Commodore Computing International - Vol 05 No 10 (1987-06)(Croftward)(GB)

g All you ev

= to know
abouL.^r

Games am
Graphics

Databases
and Programs

More 64 and
Amiga Power...

It's all here

1

MegaReviews - Nemesis the Warlock - Auf Wiedersehn Monty

Samurai Trilogy- Express Raider- Leaderboard Exec -

Shockway Rider ... a Football S pecial ... C 1 6 Sum mer Events

and Phantom - Tomahawk and KtmitsgsfMtl)lAV4^ - plus

the Sensational Sinbad

FREE! NEMESIS
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Welcome to the ultimate challenge! A two way teat of skill and nerve - can
you out manouevre the awesome ogre and blast a path through the myriad of
colourful bricks? Are your reflexes adept enough to retrieve the speeding
missile, defelected from its block shattering journey or regurgitated
contemptuously from the ogre's mouth?

beauty were virtues, a class of warriors set themselves apart to
dedicate their lives to a perfection in combat that in itself was an
artform, to a discipline of mind that became a religion. The attaining of
such excellence required an extraordinary diligence in self-denial and
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Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd., Alph

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Ill

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GEOS

Writers Package 32

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...CONSTANT
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Last Command 131/11

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F.X.D. 137/138/139/140

C 64 Keyboard 141/142/143

ADVERTISERS

DIRECTORY 146

NEWS

5/6/8

MUSIC

Ian Waugh plays easy tunes 14/15

MINTER COLUMN is

BASIC FOR
BEGINNERS 21/22

BOOKS 28

CHARTS 40

ADVENTURE

Exclusive Guild of Thieves Preview

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Samurai Trilogy ... Nemesis the
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Dear Reader,

I get these days an increasing number of letters
telling me, among other things, that CCI seems to
be giving the kind of information that Commodore
owners want. However, many of the letters go on to
ask that writer's particular interest be covered at
greater length. As these requests vary from
suggesting that there should be more news or more
technical software and hardware reviews to lots
more games coverage and even more competitions;
and a frequent request is for more letter space — or
even longer letters! It is not easy to comply with
everyone's wishes . . . Especially the poor old Plus/4
owners feel hard done by as there is little special
software for them to use on their potentially
powerful machines. Sometimes they even blame us
for not reviewing enough! We would of course
happily do it if we had more to review!

We sympathise with them as we do with
everybody who feels their particular interest should
be covered more fully. However, our problem is that
space is always highly in demand and in
consequence limted. The only way we can find to
help is to increase the size of CCI which is rather an
expensive matter. Just the paper on which we print
has risen — largely due to the fall in the value of the
pound — by approximately 15% in the last year
alone. Nevertheless, this issue we have increased
the size and attempted to allow more coverage of a
number of different areas — which we hope should
satisfy some people.

We have a special feature on the growing Amiga
scene, with a close look at "Sinbad", another
Mindscape spectacular. The Amiga's enticing
graphics are clearly moving the whole home micro

Managing Editor and Publisher

Features Editor.. Anthony Mae!

Editorial/Production

Controller Romayne Jesudason

Subscriptions Controller

Will Light

Senior Advertisement Manager

Advertisement Manager

Rae West

Phil Wiltshire

Assistant Advertisement

Telephone 01-278 0333

Advertising Assistant

Editorial ext: 274

Krotoa Moses

Advertising ext: 280/286
Subscriptions ext: 274

Finance Director

B.J. Lewis M.Sc. F.C.A.

Published by Croftward Limited

Consultant Art Editor

Finsbury Business Centre

40 Bowling Green Lane
London EC1 RONE

Artwork . . . Teresa Geneve

Cover Illustration Jacki Hearle

Distributed by: Comag, Tavistock

Elite Illustration ,. Martin Farrei

Road, West Drayton, Middx UB7

7QE

Photography . . . Paget Joseph

Printed by Chase Printers Group

Typesetting: Carlton Barclay

Commodoro Compitn^ klwuKM - m HmmmmMWI mogirtno lor
CnffMrjJiiiTOnmauiiiuMil-lowotcctMoaodlwinyirotwWhCuiiwiu-
dor* Buatoos* Ifaonttm UK Us. n la puulfcitnJ 11 Homo per y**r by
tnmmM UwlU J. Tr» ffintk»mi do no! ■ccoo* HM%la»dnr IwW

© Croftward Limited 1987

Research

Andre Jacobson-Gonzalez
Contributors Tim Arnot

. . . Zack Mule Skinner

field into another dimension — as can be seen from
the other articles in the same section.

We continue our ADD-ON Guide which has
become regarded even by other Commodore
magazines, we are flattered to hear, as the
authoritative buyer's guide for the Commodore
owners.

GEOS — a genuine addition to 64 power — has a
new package reviewed and we also for the 128
owners cover a RAM expansion pack. Peter Gerrard
continues his interesting article on technical hints
and we come to the end of our first series of BASIC

On the games side, some really terrific products
have been produced as standards constantly rise.
Gremlin have taken one of the first Awesome
awards of the year with the return of the popular
'Monty Mole'. Tynesoft's C16 'Phantom' also gets an
Awesome and we preview what looks like a sure hit
for Anco with their 'Summer Events'. Andy Moss,
CCI's intrepid adventurer, also gets a preview of
Guild of Thieves, an exciting follow-up to the
successful Pawn. The programming side is bigger
too with some exceptionally interesting new ideas.

We are announcing our next free cassette offer. In
our next issue, we shall also be presenting a
number of very special offers exclusive to CCI. By
the way those frustrated Plus/4 owners should
certainly take advantage of the Micronet which is
also exclusive to our readers.

We are trying to keep the variety of the material
we publish wide and the quality high. There is even
some so-called humour with that atrocious Super
Felix, about whom, surprisingly, I never get
complaints except from people he mentions — or
their lawyers!

However, whatever we do, it is intended for your
own personal enjoyment. If you want it improved or
changed or enlarged, go on telling me. I am always
happy to hear your views on the magazine, and I
will attempt to make what you want really happen.
Yours sincerely,

Antony Jacobson

Managing Editor and Publisher

Menace — in spite of
Owing to pressure of space ^ ^^

a -Big Mag' ,ssu *7 to ^n certain items
ate ly been force tc ornrt .^^

planned for June . Trilogy

Picasso's Revenge, The Scana .

map, mentioned by An J ^es

tron'sThe Double, andin jse for

Dnwrtnfl 225 'and w-U 8 * -dude
r^X-^ssueofCCi.

~* rc\ there will be
, n the July l"2*® f otter that wffl
another *»*££ tape Including
provide an e*«» en and entertaining
utilitiesandotherusetu reque sts

programmes The last ^^ Q

tor the first free » ^^

software closes June ^ w „,

those requests al eaay
commence May 1st-

4 Commodore Computing June 1987

. . news . ..news . . . news . . . news

Superset!
Offer Super
Exec

Supersoft announce the re-
release of SUPER EXEC, an
integrated word processor,
database, and accounting
package for the Commodore
8000.

SUPER EXEC was written by
Superclerk Limited, and origi-
nally sold at £1,100 plus VAT.
Supersoft's first action on tak-
ing over the marketing was to
slash the price to just £199 plus
VAT.

The SUPER EXEC accounts
suite includes, Sales, Purchase
and Nominal ledgers, plus
Invoicing and Payroll — all that
most businesses need. Add
word processing and filing, all
for £1 99, and you end up with a
bargain — some accounting
systems cost as much per
module!

Although the Commodore
8000 series is now over 6 years
old, something of a revival has
been in progress ever since
Supersoft bought most of Com-
modore's remaining stocks last
summer. Supersoft has been
able to offer comprehensive
support and servicing to users,
which has meant that many
users have been able to con-
tinue using existing systems
rather than face a traumatic
change to an entirely different
system.

For further details contact
Peter Calver on 01-861 1166.

Cheetah
Moving Fast

Cheetah Marketing will be
moving into new Hi-Tech, pur-
pose-built premises. The build-
ing, three times the size of the
company's current headquar-
ters will enable further planned
business expansion to take
place.

Cheetah are increasing it's
personnel by 25% to meet the
demands of a massive increase
in sales in it's current financial
year. At present 26 new pro-
ducts are in the development
stage; the biggest research
program ever entered into by
the company.

Cheetah's new lair: Cheetah
Marketing Ltd, Norbury House,
Norbury road, Fairwater, Car-
diff CF5 3AS. Telephone: (022)
555525.

Hablamos
Espanol?

Transplanted into a Spanish
town, you speak the native
tongue... you HEAR your
brain voice" pronounce what
you elect to say. Your
"teachers" answer you, de-
pending on what line of con-
versation you have started,
and you hear their responses
also.

It is Kwik speak I — a new
Amiga Spanish audibleTutor.

KWIK-SPEAK drills you in
vowel sounds, consonant
usage, accent and stress. You
can go on or repeat, as often
as you like — at the press of a
key.

The methods of KWIK-
SPEAK were developed dur-
ing World War II in Lima,
Peru, where American and
British employees of airlines
and embassies HAD to start
speaking Spanish quickly.

KWIK-SPEAK 1 (Spanish-
1) consists of over 420K of
coding, with almost 30 chained
programs contained on a sin-
gle (2-sided double-density)
micro-floppy disk. Although
51 2K of memory is required,
you can operate with only
one disk drive.
Price $46.95

Contact: Eclipse Data Man-
agement Inc. 1930 West Gle-
noaks, #3 Glendale, CA 91 201
(818) 840-8757.

New Star
Printer

Star Micron ics U.K. has launch-
ed a new dot-matrix machine,
the NR-15. It provides draft
printing at 240 characters per
second (cps) and near letter
quality (NLQ) output at 60cps.

As standard, the NR-15
comes equipped with both
tractorfeed and semi-automatic
sheet feed, while completing
the range of paper handling
capabilities is an optional, low-
cost automatic cut-sheet feeder.

Another feature, common
across Star's N-range of busi-
ness printers is the slot-in inter-
face card system. By selecting
the right card, users are gua-
ranteed a perfect match with
their computer system.

For the micro user wanting
high speed printing as well as
good near letter quality print-
ing, the NR-15 costs £589.

Join the
Gremlin Navy

The free world is in peril —
war has been declared and
the enemy is closing in. Your
weakest point is the coastline
so a strategic defence initia-
tive has been adopted.

Your mission is to patrol
and defend the inner sea
using all the modern weapon
systems with which you have
been supplied. Seawolf and
Exocet.

Convoy Raider is a new
Gremlin Graphics strategic
war game with a difference.
The future of the country lies
in your hands; frighteningly
powerful weapons are at your
disposal and important tacti-
cal decisions must be made.
If that kind of power and
responsibility does not scare
you, take the helm!

Gremlin's
Aliens

The aftermath of a nuclear
holocaust is the scene, and
the earth's surface is a barren
and hostile place, incapable
of supporting human life.
Long ago, the survivors with-
drew to underground com-
plexes, and now, after years
of dedicated research, they
have produced an android,
Cybourg 64, who may provide
the answer to their prayers.

Pure skill and judgement in
controlling Cybourg are the
assets needed to help him
wipe out the aliens. Alien
Evolution is played from a 3D
perspective, looking down at
the planet, and features trans-
porters to z ip you from area
to area. Monochrome graphics
and full scrolling are also
included and overall, a good
time is to be had for those
who enjoy a fast and furious
challenge with a difference.

Alien Evolution will be
released in June 1987.

Zynaps
Zooms

Zynaps is the first game by
Dominic Robinson, a young
prog rammer who successfully
converted Hewson's Uridium
to the Spectrum. Dominic
and a partner John Cumming
have now created for Hewson
an original and reputedly awe-

inspiring game wnicn win
appeal to all dedicated shoot-
em-upfans.

Use bravery and cunning to
escape an al ten i nf ested space
station, battle through aster-
oid storms and infiltrate un-
known planets before entering
the 'final conflict' phase of
this horizontal scrolling epic.
Choose you r path caref u I ly,
the galaxy depends on you!!
C 64 £8.95 (c), £12.95 (d).

How to win at
computer
games . . .

Trilogic have upgraded their
Expert cartridge with ESM.

The compact ESM module
is fitted with LED, push button
and connector. It fits between
the cartridge post and the
Expert cartridge and, as with
most Trilogic systems, it has
no effect on games action
and can be left connected but
otherwise ignored.

When a protected program
is loaded which needs the
ESM, the LED will glow. To
stop the game, simply press
the push-button briefly. The
program will be paused and
the Experts machine-code
monitor be activated. From
then on, the Expert can be
used in the normal way — to
alter, restart or save to disk/
tape as you choose.

The new ESM costs £7.95
inc. VAT and postage.
Contact: Trilogic, 329 Tong
Street, Bradford BD4 9QY.
Tel: (0274) 684289.

Power House
Value

The Power House has announc-
ed that every game released
will contain either a free game
of a free audio track.

All the Power House music is
provided by the House Elec-
tronic Xperience, headed by
Wayne Allen. Wayne, formerly
of Kick Partners, has appeared
many times on National TV, the
John Peel Show on Radio One
and in the music press.

The Power House's Andy
Wood is already claiming tre-
mendous reactio to the first
batch of releases from con-
sumers, distributors and retail-
ers alike. The Power House
first releases are The Termina-
tor and The Equalizer, both
£1 .99.

.news... news ...news... news

ACE II

Cascade Games, creators of
the smash hit "ACE" (CCI
OSKAR Winner) tell us that
they are working on a follow-
up imaginatively called ACE
II. It will be for one or two
players with the screen plit
horizontally. ACE II will be
initially released on the 64 but
almost immediately published
for the Plus/4. ACE I sold
terrifically well on all formats
and more the 15,000 on the
Plus/4 alone which must make
it one of the best sellers for
that machine.

Palace's
Barbarian

Palace Software are bringing
out Barbarian, which they
claim is "the most realistic
and exciting combat game
yet seen on a home com-
puter". Created by Steve
Brown, who was responsible
for the monster hits Cauldron
and Cauldron II. Barbarian
features "riveting music" and
sound effects by Richard
Joseph, the musician respon-
sible for all the sound in The
Sacred Armour of Antiriad
and Cauldron II.

Barbarian contains two
games in one. Load Part One
and perfect your swordsman-
ship against the finest warrior
in the land. This section can
be played against another
player or the computer. In
Part Two you must fight to
save the Princess from the
clutches of the Dark Sorcerer,
Drax.

Sixteen different moves,
including headbutt, kick and
webb of death, set Barbarian
apart from any previous
sword-fighting game. "Other
effects, such as the decapi-
tation, must been seen to be
believed."

Barbarian contains all the
classic elements of the sword
and sorcery genre; Marvel at
the muscular barbarians!
Gasp at the beautiful Princess!
Hiss at the evil sorcerer!
Cringe at the hideously de-
formed dwarf.

The game will be available
for the Commodore 64 of
£9.99 and the packaging
features beautiful Page 3
model, Maria Whittaker.

40 Activision
titles go
Silver

What the people who have
signed orcalled "The Licence
Agreement of the Year" has
been made between Telecom-
soft and Activision (UK) Ltd
for nearly forty Activision pro-
ducts to be released in the
Firebird Silver 1 99 Range over
the next twenty four months.

Not only previously released
products, but also some
hitherto unreleased ones
feature in the line up.

"There are some really
cracking games here for
£1 .99." says the Silver Range
boss Chris Smith. "Titles such
as 'Back to the Future', 'I of
the Mask', and Pitfalls I and II'
head the series of previously
released material, and offer
superb value for money at
£1.99. In addition, we have
the publishing rights to three
Commodore 64 games which
are brand new to the Euro-
pean market — 'Breakstreet',
'Futureball', and 'Pyramids of
time'."

'Park Patrol' for the Com-
modore 64 was recently re-
leased in the Silver Range
under licence from Activision.

The first title are likely to hit
the shops early in the Summer.

Foreign

Language

W/P

A new PC/MS-DOS package
from INTEX ■ SOFTWARE
SYSTEMS will enable PC
users to use their existing
keyboards for a wide range of
fully processable international
character sets with a simpler
user-friendly menu.

The basic Western Euro-
pean package covers nine
different character sets which
can be selected and mixed at
a keystroke. The French set-
ting for example, changes the
imput to the standard
AWERTY positions used in
France, regardless of the key-
board used. Other options on
the same disk include US &
UK English, French, German,
Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portu-
guese and Danish with all the
normal word processing
options at an affordable price
of £199.00.

For PCs fitted with a Her-
cules graphics card the range
of options includes full-logic
Russian, Polish, Arabic and
Hebrew data entry combined
with English.

The star of the show in
terms of performance has got
to be the unique ZLZ Chinese
package with an enormous

Eagles — The

Electrifying

Facts

Eagles is the next master
blaster which Hewson are re-
leasing to shatter the lives of
all peace loving Commodore
owners. The graphics are
quite stunning and the game
looks set to conquer the
C64/C1 28 market as the num-
ber one Uridium sequel.

Written by Danish program-
mers Per Madsen and Bo Niel-
sen, Eagles is a fast and
furious shoot-em-up set on

the planet Zinox.

Played over eight levels
there are an increasing num-
ber of different aliens to blast
and explode and a host of
androids to collect. Drop the
androids into a shute on the
rugged plant surface to enter
the energy based bonus
phase.

Eagles has single, two
player and team options to
choose from. Both Eagles
fighters are shown on the
screen at the same time to
enhance the reality of the
situation.

Eagles is for the C64.E8.95
(c) £12.95 (d).

1 0,000 character set from any
standard PC, XT or AT key-
board for only £300. There is
even an additional interface
module that will enable the
use of packages such as
dBIII™ and Lotus 1-2-3™
Nwith Chinese characters!

All files are encoded so that
they can be transferred via
modem or network to any
other device using the same
software making it a faster
and higher quality transmis-
sion device for foreign type-
script than fax.

Available shortly will be
Greek, Turkish and Japanese
options.

Contact: Intex Systems,
Tel: 0462 811813.

Catch 23
from Martech

Martech has announced the
release of Catch 23, a combat
arcade adventure with 3-D vec-
tor graphics for the 64.

It is your mission to explore
an island and find the heart of
the development complex.
Once there you must steal the
design of the CK 23 and then
set a time delay mine in the
nuclear reactor. The explosion
which follows will devastate
entire island.

The actipn takes place on a
moonless night, hence you
have been provided with a mil-
itary image enhancer. Using
advanced 3-D vector graphics
with full collisio detection, the
player sees an accurate repre-
sentation of his world as he
moves within it.

The world is heavily popu-
lated, the player being able to
see and explore entire villages.
It is also possible to enter and
explore buildings. There are
useful objects and vital clues to
be discovered before you have
any hope of penetrating the
complex itself.

The island map contains tens
of millions of occupiable loca-
tions. It consists of mountains,
plains, marshes, villages (con-
taining a variety of building
types), plus, the huge military
complex. Catch 23 is a vast
garr.t3 which presents the game
player with an enormous yet
achievable challenge. Martech
tells us it is the closest thing
yet to actually being there.

Catch 23 will be £8.95
cassette, with £12.95 disk.

Contact: Headlines PR on
01-258 3999.

6 Commodore Computinq June 1987

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You^can find love

Over the years Dateline has been featured many times by press, radio and television
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I am over seventeen and would like you to send me completely free, in
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I enclose two first class stamps.

START HERE <|

Do you consider yourself:

Shy

Extrovert
Adventurous
__| Family type
Clothes conscious

Generous
Outdoor type
Creative
Practical
Intellectual

Indicate which activities
and interests you enjoy by
placing a y^ in the
appropriate box. If you
dislike a particular
activity, put X -If
you have no preference,
leave the column blank.

Pop music

Fashion

Pubs

Sport

Pets

Folk music

Jazz

Travelling

Cinema

Good food

Politics

Classical music

Art/Literature

'Live' theatre

Science or Technology

Creative writ ing/pa in ting

Poetry

Philosophy/Psychology/Sociology

History/Archeology

Conversation

Your Sex put M or F Your Height ft ins
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Address

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01 938 1011

. . . news . . .news . . ■ news . . .news

Prism
Cheapos

Prism Leisure have signed an
exclusive distribution agree-
ment with Argus Press Soft-
ware Ltd on selected back
catalogue titles.

The agreement means that
Prism Leisure will sell games
such as Give My Regards to
Broad Street, The Force,
Schizofrenia, Johnny Reb II,
amongst others, on Commo-
dore 64 at new low prices
allowing retail prices of £1.99
and £2.99.

Contact: Prism Leisure Cor-
poration, Unit 1, Baird Rd,
Enfield, Middx. EN1 1SJ.

Gothic Horror
from CRL

CRL is to release 'Franken-
stein' for the 64/128.

Based on the classic novel
by Mary Shelley you play the
part of Professor Franken-
stein, the demented scientist
whose bizarre experiments
create the ultimate monster.

This three part adventure
will have horrific animated
digitised graphics and a
powerful descriptive text. It
will also come complete with
terrifying sound effects.

Frankenstein £9.95 (c)
£14.95 (d).

For further information con-
tact Headlines PR on 01-258
3999.

Star
Launches
NX-15 Wide
Carriage
Printer

Star have announced the
launch of their latest N series
printer, the NX-15.

Designed as a direct replace-
ment for the proven SG-15
model and priced at £389, it
offers a combination of price
and performance and ease of
use. Included as standard are
tractor and friction feed
together with an automatic
single sheet feeder for letter-
heads. When printing the
NX-1 5 coasts along at 1 20cps
in draft mode or at a satisfying
30cps in Near Letter Quality.

Like all Star's N series
printers the NX-15 features a
full featured front control
panel which eliminates the
need for fiddling with DIP
switches. Typestyle selection,
draft or NLQ, print pitch,
forms and paper control are
all under finger-tip control.
Interfaces are available in
either parallel or serial form
and can be slotted into the
printer in seconds. Full IBM
and Epson compatibility is
provided.

Its baby brother, the NL-1 0,
which was launched last year
has already captured some
25% of the market in this price
and performance range. It
was called ". . . the Rolls
Royce of these printers," in a
recent comparative review
while the Consumers Associa-
tion magazine Which? gave it
its Best Buy rating.

Oxford
Basic 64

From the publishers of Oxford
Pascal, comes Oxford Basic
for the Commodore 64.

Oxford Basic is said to be
the complete 64 Basic pro-
gramming environment and
gives the user a library of
powerful utilities: The Oxford
Analyzer, a report/optimisa-
tion utility designed to enable
you to produce high quality
software; The Compressor to
eliminate time consuming
spaces and REMs, packing
up to 255 characters on to
each line; The Oxford Toolkit

offers new com mands to make
BASIC programming more
enjoyable and effective.

All of this together with OX-
COMP, a fast, fully compati-
ble BASIC compiler. It gives y
ou machine code without the
need to write in assembler.
OX-COMP also contains a
powerful- optimiser which
brakes programs into frag-
ments to reassemble them
simplifying the complex and
removing the unnecessary.

Price: £34.95.

Contact: Systems Software
(Oxford) Ltd, 16B Worcester
Place, Oxford OX1 2JW. Tel:
(0865) 54195.

New
Superhero!

No, it is not a Masterchronic.
Deep inside the laboratories
of Melbourne House a new
lifeform is stirring. Assembled
by a crack team of software
engineers, this hybrid crea-
ture has a personality which
can be programmed and
altered at will. This is the day
of ... DOC THE DEST-
ROYER. Doc the Destroyer is
the first in an advanced race
of su perheroes. His powers of
reason and physical strength,
his ability to survive and
succeed, are determined by
his human controller at the
start of each game. The
ordeals which follow test
those skills to the full, taking
through the extensive playing

area, presenting him with a
bewildering array of options
at every turn.

Interacting with this dyna-
mic adventure are arcade
combat sequences, where the
of muscle and sinew is
stretched to the limit, depicted
in the startling, massive
sprites recently developed by
Beam Software for Melbourne
House.

The player decides how
much weight to give each of
Doc's characteristics —
strength, endurance, intelli-
gence, luck and charisma.

Not only will these attri-
butes affect Doc's progress
through the menu-driven
strategy of the game, but also
his chances of survival in the
many joystick combat
sequences. Doc's characteri-
stics will actually alter the

games parameters, transform-
ing the options which he is
faced with and the problems
he must solve.

Jane Denning, marketing
manager for Melbourne
House, says: "Doc the
Destroyer is best described
as, simply, a role-playing
science fantasy text-and-
graphic arcade adventure
combat game, with" pausing
for breath, "a mappable play-
ing area, multiple choice and
massive sprites."

See for yourself, when Doc
destroys the Commodore 64,
the Spectrum and the
Amstrad machines shortly.
And the damage? Only £9.95
for the Commodore version,
£8.95 for the Amstrad and
£7.95 for the Spectrum.

Contact: Melbourne House,
(01)943 3911.

Pets are
Back in
Business

One of the very first micro-
computers on the market in
1978 was the Commodore
PET. And one of the first
microcomputer software
houses was Supersoft, also
founded in 1978. Although
Supersoft have moved with
the times and now support
many newer machines, they
haven't forgotten the PET —
as the release of two new
products shows!

FAST COPY is a disk copy-
ing utility for 8050 and 8250
drives which can drastically
reduce the time it takes to
make vital backup copies of
data disk. FAST COPY saves
time by omitting the format-
ting process when writing to a
disk which is already format-
ted (unlike the standard
BACKUP command), and by
copying only those blocks
that have been used. At just
£15 (exc VAT) FAST COPY
could pay for itself in a mattet
of days.

BLITZ is a Basic compiler
for 3032, 4032, 8032 and 8096
or 8396 computers. Easy to
use, and highly compatible
with Commodore Basic,
BLITZ has been available on
the Continent for some time,
but Supersoft have only
recently managed to obtain
the U.K. rights.

Compiled programs run 5,
10 or even 20 time faster with
BLITZ — and they're impos-
sible to alter by anyone who
doesn't have access to the
uncompiled original, so they
are also more secure.

BLITZ costs £99 (ex VAT),
and comes with -a compre-
hensive manual. Additional
versions on the same disk are
charged at only £30 each, so
for example the 8032 and
8096/8296 versions would
together cost only £129.
BLITZ for the 8096/8296
allows the additional 64k of
memory to be used for varia-
bles, unlike some other com-
pilers which treat them as 32k
machines.

FAST COPY and BLITZ are
available direct from Super-
soft, or (to order only) from
your local computer store.

Contact: Supersoft Tel: 01-
861 1166.

8 Commodore ComDUtina June 1987

DIMENSION

computers Ltd.

27/29 High Street

Leicester LE1 4FP

Tel: (0533)

517479/21874

THE MIDLAND'S LARGEST COMPUTER STORE

SOFTWARE

VIZA

Vizastar XL8 64

VizastarXL8 128

Vizawrite Classic 128.

_J»935" £79.95

.£13935" £99.95

.£8935" £79.95

PRECISION

Superscript 64 £B&AS~~ £49.95

Superbase 64/+4 £9035" £39.95

Superscript 64

&Superbase64 £4*930" £79.95

Superscript 128 £8935" £74.95

Superbase 128 £8935" £59.95

Superscript 128

& Superbase 128 £48930 £119.95

Superbase, The Book £11.95

COMMODORE 128 COMPENDIUM PACK

Commodore 128 Computer, C2N Data Recorder,
Music Maker Keyboard, Spirit of the Stones,
Jack Attack and international Soccer
Software £269.95

COMMODORE

Future Finance (Planning

Package), Disc JW530" £17.95

Macro Assembler Development System,

Disc £14.95

Simons Basic Extension,

Tape £4833- £12.95

Commodore 64

Programmers' Reference

Guide £8^5- £7.50

LOGO + PILOT

2 Educational Languages,

Disc £643T £14.95

Easyfile Database, Disc ,£6630" £17.95

AUDIOGENIC

Swift Spreadsheet 128, Disc £24.95

CBM64/1 28 MUSIC EXPANSION SYSTEM

Including Full Size Five Octave Keyboard,
8 Channel Synthesizer Module and
Sound Studio Software

£44935" Few only at £99.95

MICRO CLERK 128

Accounts Package with Spreadsheet,

Database and Word Processor £99.95

Purchase Ledger £69.95

Sales Ledger £69.95

Accounts, Purchase Ledger,

Sales Ledger Package now £1 99.95

SWIFTCALC 128

CBM 128 Spreadsheet £57.50

PRACTICORP

Inventory (Stock Control Package),

Disc £3935 £14.95

6 DISC ADVENTURE GAMES PACK, 64/128

Deadline, Suspended, Starcross,

Zorkl,Zorkll, Zorklll £19.95

Pack of 12 Commodore 64

Pre-School Educational Titles, Tape £39.95

PLUS 4 COMPANIES PACK

Sales/Purchase/Nominal Ledgers
with Invoicing and Stock Control . . .

£24.95

1541C DISC DRIVE
1571 DISC DRIVE

Both the above include either:
Software Pack A

6 Infocom Disc Adventure Games, or
Software Pack B

Quick Brown Fox Word Processor, Easyfile Database and
Future Finance Planning Package

£199.95
£249.95

PERIPHERALS

MUSIC MAKER 128

Keyboard and Software, Tape £19.95

POWER CARTRIDGE

Utilities including Tape and Disc Turbo and Screen Dump £39.95

ACTION REPLAY

Tape to Disc Back-up Cartridge £24.95

64/128 PRINTER BUFFERS

32K £69.95

64K £89.95

NEOS MOUSE

WITH CHEESE SOFTWARE, Tape or Disc £27.95

THE ARTIST

Advanced Mouse Graphics Package £29.95

COMPOSER/EDITOR SOFTWARE

for Sound Expander System, Tape or Disc £24.95

TROJAN CADMASTER LIGHT PEN

Commodore 64 £1 6.95

Commodore Plus 4/C16 £19.95

PRINTER RIBBON OFFER

MPS 801, 802 Ribbons £5.95

MPS 803 & MPS 1000 £4.95

MPS 1101 M.S. Ribbons t £3.50

BUY FOUR AND GET ONE FREE!

LOCKABLE DISC STORAGE BOXES

Price includes pack of 10 Commodore compatible discs

50 Capacity £19.95

100 Capacity £21.95

THE EXPERT CARTRIDGE ESM

Tape to Disc System £37.50

FREEZE FRAME 3 £39.95

COMMODORE MPS 803 TRACTOR FEED UNIT £24.95

FCC CENTRONICS INTERFACE

With Commodore Graphics and 8K Buffer £64.95

QUICKDISC + 1541 FAST LOAD/UTILITY CARTRIDGE £1 9.95

10 COMMODORE COMPATIBLE DISCS WITH

FREE PLASTIC DISC HOLDER £9.95

AMIGA

System One £1050.00

System Two £1250.00

With free 1 year on-site warranty and 10 disc Software Pack including
Forth, Lisp, Utilities, Text Editor, Speech Synthesis, etc.

CITIZEN 120D CBM PRINTER

High Quality Dot Matrix Printer

* Near Letter Quality Mode * 1 20 cps Draft Print Mode

* Friction and Tractor Feed * Needs no interface

* Full Two-Year Warranty * 1 00% Commodore compatible

£199.95

COMMODORE 560P

2-colour Dot Matrix Printer takes 27„in. roll paper £49.95

STAR NL 10C NLQ PRINTER

Fully Commodore compatible £249.95

Commodore 1571 Double-sided Drive £249.95

Commodore 1 901 Colour Monitor £339.95

Philips 64/128 Green Screen Monitor £89.95

Commodore 1 541 C Disc Drive £189.95

Commodore 128D £499.95

Commodore MPS 1 000 CBM/Centronics Printer £274.95

PERSONAL CALLERS AND EXPORT ENQUIRIES WELCOME

ALL OFFERS STRICTLY SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY
ALL PRICES INCLUDE V.A.T.

To order, either send cheque/P.O. with coupon or ring (0533) 517479/21874 with

Access/Barclaycard number. Please allow 7 working days for delivery from receipt of order

or cheque clearance.

Please add £1 .00 towards carriage and packing on any software order.

Hardware orders add £1 .00 under E65.00 value, and C5.00 over £65.00 value.

Printer orders add £5.00 towards carriage.

Send to: Dept. No. CCI6, Dimension Computers Ltd.,

27/29 High Street, Leicester LE1 4FP.

Tel: (0533) 51 7479/21 874 Fax: (0533) 51 1638

Item

Quantity

Total

Price

Name

Address.

Telephone:

G4MESWDRLD elite

•m m ii

««

■THE WIICOXES

»»

On a quiet street, near Walsall, in
what was once the heartland of
industrial middle England stands an
unimpressive office building. The ground
floor is occupied by a Tandoori res-
taurant and a ladies' hairdresser. Above
them on the second floor in equally
unspectacular offices lives a computer
games company that some believe
made more profit in 1 986 than any other
in the U.K. — and that includes U.S.
Gold and Ocean who are generally
thought to be the largest home enter-
tainment companies. This successful
games company is Elite which has
achieved in the last eighteen months a
record of hits that is second to none.
Frank Bruno's Boxing, Commando,
Bombjack, Ghosts and Goblins, Paper-
boy — all reached the number one spot
in the charts and stayed there for long
enough to make them top sellers. There
were others too that even if they did not
reach number one still more than paid
their way.

young, Dad, with a rueful twinkle claims
to be the oldest man in a top position in
the computer games world. He may be
right but the depth of his experience
allied to the younger Wilcox's flair make
them a very formidable team in deed.

Payability

Elite came about by a series of appar-
ently unconnected chance happenings
in August 1984. Steve Wilcox had
finished college with a degree in
chemistry spent 10 months in a big
industrial company, got frustrated and
started a computer shop in Walsall just a
few miles from the family home. By
Autumn 1983, he was selling Spectrums
"by the truckload". Richard, Steve's
younger brother, then 15, got hold of a
computer his father had brough home
from an abortive business software
venture and taught himself to program.
He wrote a game for the Atari, then one
for the Spectrum. It was called "Blue

Market Leaders

The innocuous appearance that its
unobtrusive home above the tandoori
and the hairdressers lends Elite is decep-
tive. Its success is better reflected in the
cars that stands in the parking area — a
brand new black Jaguar Sovereign and
a golden Lotus Turbo Esprit. The two
cars belong to father and son, Brian and
Steve Wilcox, who own Elite completely.
Together the Wilcoxes are building a
software house, not yet three years old,
that is becoming a unique, well-oiled
machine for the production of hit com-
puter games and the making of large
sums of money.

Steve Wilcox is tall, slim, musta-
chioed. He smokes nervously and at 27
he is reputedly the possessor of a bank
balance in the high figures which with
other assets, makes him the U.K.'s
youngest software millionaire. His quiet
manner conceals a shrewd mind that
has an uncanny knack for picking
winners both in ideas and in pro-
grammers capable of carrying them out.
Brian Wilcox, the father, is a heavy-
weight corporate manager who has
climbed from apprentice "in metal
bashing", to owning his own foundry
from which he retired and then sold
before entering the software business
and running the administrative side of
Elite. While son Steve has made it big

Thunder". It was Elite's first game and it
became a top seller.

Next came Kokatoni Wilf which was
Elite's first Commodore game. It got to
number four in the charts. That was
followed by Elite's first licensed game
"Fall Guy", linked to a TV series. "It was
pretty awful" admits Steve Wilcox. But
the idea of linking with an outside aid to
public awareness of a game appealed
and Elite signed to produce its first coin-
up conversion — a field in which they
are now regarded as outstanding. Their
first conversion was Airwolf. It was
written by Richard Wilcox in just three
weeks. It was a smash hit and sold over
200,000 copied, At the time it was
second only to "Ghostbusters" as a big
seller.

Elite began to bring other products on
stream. Richard worked once more on
Grand National and at the advantages of
16 retired from programming to concen-
trate on his A level examinations. But as
in good stories, there was a little drama
in the Elite story. For the next "nine
months there was no more success.
Things must have looked dark in a
business where you are only as good as
your last release. "But we had an
advantage" explains Steve Wilcox. "We
were later than other software com-
panies. So we learned a lot of lessons

Commodore Computing June 1987 11

from other people's mistakes. We knew
what we had to produce was high
quality games." It was at that time too
that Elite began to try to bring in a policy
of producing the same game on all
formats simultaneously.

The creation of a computer game
generally depends on the ability , the
concentration, even the physical stamina
of programmers who are very often in
their late teens or early twenties and are
more usually computer enthusiasts than
business people. An idea foragame will
be approved by a software house and
given to a different groups of pro-
grammers to produce the Commodore,
Spectrum and Amstrad versions. Be-
cause if the same group of program-
mers has to do all three then they may
not be so expert in all three formats and
certainly cannot produce them all at
once. Because of financial pressures on
software houses — it can need an invest-
ment of £1 00,000 or more for one game
these days — when a single version is
finished there is a great temptation to
rush the game out into the market and
get some of that costly investment back.

Elite realised that the impact on the
public of releasing a game right across
the formats at the same time would be
that much heavier than just on one
format. The press and the buying public
would be impressed that something
important was happening and the sales
of all three formats would give it a much
better chance of hitting the top numbers
on the charts. Releasing all three at once
had hardly been done at that time and
some reluctantly admiring rivals believe
that this marketing strategy has had a
remarkable effect in driving Elite pro-
ducts to the top of the charts.

Elite maintains there is another reason
for their success — the sheer quality of
their products. They achieve this by
"cherry picking" their programmers and
their games. "We scrap a lot of
things . . .even finished products. We've
invested £50,000 in a project and thrown
it away . . There are several projects
we've got to completion and didn't
publish ..."

To save a repetition of this wasted
investment, they have now decided to
build up theirteam of programmers and
to examine thoroughly just how a
successful computer game gets written
and produced. They have just conducted
an intensive investigation among them-
selves into the conditions necessary to
ensure success. One of those conditions
they say is "Quality Control".

"Quality Control" is not a term
generally heard in games software
houses, where word like "playability" or
"hi-res graphics" are pop up more often.
This emphasis on "quality control"
stems from Brian Wilcox's past manage-
ment experience in industry. For this
and other administrative functions he
has built into the organisation a series of

systems that makes Elite, he claims and
others back that claim, the possessor of
the most efficient distribution system of
any U.K. games software company. He
states that anyone making an order that
Elite receives before o'clock in the after-
noon will have it fulfilled the same day.
He points out that Elite's 1986 turnover
of £3 million was accomplished from a
warehouse, tiny by comparison with
most of just 600 square feet. The
absence of flash offices . . .the efficient
use of space... the smooth running
distribution system . . .no wonder Elite is
so profiable...lt is, it is reputed, to be
sitting on a "cash mountain" of well into
seven figures which gives it substantial
financial muscle when it come to nego-
tiating coin-op and other linked conver-
sion rights.

The Hit Pak

Elite's ability to produce hits has been
extended by the acquisition of more
expert programmers. Someone has
called them echoing Elite's recent com-
pletion success "The Hit Pak". It is
currently working on a game being
programmed by a team that came from
the famed Ultimate company. CCI suc-
ceeded in setting an exclusive look at
"Buggsey Boy". This is a racing game
that might be considered somewhere
between a simulation, in that you have
to use your skills to keep your racing car
on the road in spite of a variety of
obstacles that rush at you, and an out
and out arcade coin-op in that it is fast
and action filled. It looks a class above
anything that has previously appeared
in the "Pole Position" style.

'Buggsey Boy' is like all Elite's games
these days, designed to appeal to more
than just a U.K. market. It will clearly be
popular wherever computer games are
played. Elite's overseas sales now
exceed its' U.K. market. It seems, with
some satisfaction that the Wilcoxes will
tell you, that the influence of the once
almighty U.K. distributors like Centrsoft
is declining. Although Elite still sees
plenty of room for growth in its home
market.

It is growing in the number of titles it is
bringing out, too. This year it will bring
out 12 — 6 arcade conversions, 3 follow-
ups to past successes and three games
of their own design. They see their
opposition coming not so much from
the U.K. "If elite to be a world power as a
software company, the Japanese will be
our competition not far down the line."

They are confident enough of them-
selves to admit that they are still
learning. "When we looked at ourselves."
Steve Wilcox comments about their re-
cent investigation. "We discovered that
we didn't have the capacity really to
design something totally original...
Doing all these conversions though had
taught us the difference between a good

game and a bad one. We have built up
the technical skills. The next stage is to
produce a game where the design is
ours."

They have reason for confidence.
Their first release this year Bombjack 1 1
went to number 1 "The first of 1987... It
was an original design . . .We just used
the name to carry it forward . . ."

There is not doubt that Elite has
earned considerable respect both in the
software industry and from game buyers.
The Elite logo is becoming familiar
enough to persuade the game player
with money in his pocket to spend it on
an Elite game because the company's
previous games have been tops in play-
ability and high in value. The con-
sistency of its quality brings it com-
parison not so much with Ocean, which
is generally thought of as its rival, but
with the sharp quality and consistent
vitality of another company associated
with "The Empire" of U.S. Gold and
Geoff Brown — Ian Stewart's Gremlin.
If, as the Wilcoxes predict the number of
games houses is going to go on shrink-
ing, there is littJe fear that Elite will not
be among the survivers. Even though
the elder Wilcox is preparing for a
second retirement, Steve Wilcox shows
no sign of being bored with running his
own show or the rewards it brings —
weekends in the U.S. or skiing and a
Turboloaded Lotus. Picking winners
maybe, as the quickly smoked cigarettes
reveal, something of a strain, but it is a
lost better than being a management
trainee in a big company or even selling
Spectrum by the truckload. No, if
careful planning, intelligent manage-
ment, well-organised systems, a dedi-
cation to quality — and of course sheer
playability can bring success in games,
then you can be sure that Elite is going
to go on adding to that cash mountain
and its growing list of number one chart
hits.

12 Commodore Computing June 1987

ID

au

imuL

CAN IT DO
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FROM US

AT THIS

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THAN JUST
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PROGRAM
PARALYSER

Stops even the most heavily protected
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fc^ BACK-U

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TAPE - DISK, DISK - TAPE, DISK - DISK
TAPE - TAPE Transfers memory resident
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" "I £1 Q?

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EXTRACTOR

Displays the sprites for you to edit, and then
save, or RESTART the game using your customised
ones. You can view the animation too.

JOIN THE

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RELOADS, DECOMPACTS & RUNS ANY PROGRAM
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SPRITE
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This feature disables the sprite
detection - prolongs active spri

HIRES SCREEN
GRABBER

Save a HIRES screen and t

of several utilities widely available.

er it using one

WITH THE ,
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CAN 00 ALL
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X +

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CHEAT
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The easy way to enter cheats and "pokes".
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AND ITS

A truly professional machine-code monitor,
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PLUS, B command lists BASIC & R restarts a program.

You'LL NEVER need to return the cartridge for
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EXCITING NEW HITECH PRODUCTS FOR
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I . |C %AII THE PHANTOM - PARALLEL DISK DRIVE ADAPTOR
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PAYMENT BY CASH. CHEQUES PAYABLE TO TRILOGIC/
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I ^ .«K|l 256K SOFTWARE SWITCHABLE EPROM
NfcVM • BOARD, TAKES 8 EPROMS.

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CALLERS 329 TONG STREET BRADFORD BD4 9QY

— — — — — THE EXPERT ORDER — — — — —

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SPECIFY DISK
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Name

If you do not have a disk drive
please state "Tape version required.'

I Attach P. Order/cheque £29.99
Access No.

Post off to ►TrilogicDept CCI
29HOLMELANE BRADFORD BD40QA

f Afas/c

Easy Music Making on the
Commodore 64 (Part 1)

This series of articles will give you
enough knowledge to tackle your
own music programming — to make
real music from your 64. We'll skip as
many of the boring bits as possible but a
few words about music won't go amiss.
We've included some figures to show
you what you can do. To tie this in with
SID (the 64's music chip) one figure
shows which pitch numbers produce
which notes. Keep these handy because
future articles will refer to them.

(Figure 2.4, page 21)

Pitch

The two most important items of
information we get from a piece of
music are the pitch and the note and
how long it lasts. In conventional
notation, notes are arranged on a set of
five lines called a staff or stave. Pitch is
shown by placing notes on the lines or in
the spaces. The higher the note is
placed, the higher the pitch. The notes
are given letter names, A through to G.
When you reach G you start again with
A.

Notes can be placed above and below
the lines to extend the range. These are
written on and between short lines
called leger lines which are reallyjust an
extension of the stave. To increase
further the range of notes and maintain
readability, we can add another stave
below the first one. To distinguish one
stave from the other, each is given a clef
sign which shows the position of the
notes in relation to the stave. The two

Ian Waugh shows you just
how easy it is to make
your 64 sing — once you
know how.

most common clefs, and the only ones
we will concern ourselves with, are the
treble or G clef and the bass or F clef.

The interval in pitch between two
similar letters is known as an octave and
represents a doubling in pitch or fre-
quency. The interval between a note on
a line and a note in a space is either a
tone or a semitone. We can do a few
experiments and see — and hear — what
scales sound like. The following pro-
gram shows the range of pitches SID is
capable of. It also demonstrates the type
of sound SID can produce and you can
hear how varied they are.

(Program 1.2, page 6)

It plays a series of semitones. Even if
you can't read music you can probably
tell that this is not a 'proper' scale. Try
this program:

(Program 1.5, page 5)

You can probably also tell that this is
not a complete scale. You can produce a
scale quite simply by making these
alerations:

150 FOR N=1 TO 8

240 DATA 16,195,18,209,21,31,22,96,

25,30,28,49,31,165,33,135

This sounds complete and more
musically satisfying than a sequence of
semitones. If you're notfamiliarwith the
workings of the SID chip then take these
programs on trust. All will be explained
in the course of the series.

The SID chip has a range of over eight
octaves. The keyboard diagram covers
only the middle five, mainly to keep it
within manageable proportions but
musically, you will find the sounds in
this range to be the most useful and
other pitches are easy to program if you
need them.

You can make a simple modification
to the first program (1.2) to test the
musical usefulness of each octave:

145 PRINT'OCTAVE?";

146 GET 0$:IF O$<"0" OR 0$>"7"
GOTO 146

147 PRINT 0$:0=7-VAL(0$)
200:

290 IF TKTM+25 THEN 290
310:

Scales

An important property of music, not
always obvious at first sight, is the fact
that there are really only 12 separate
notes in the whole musical spectrum.
When you reach the 13th note, the
sequence is simple repeated and the
notes sound an octave higher. Make the
following alterations to the first program
(1.2) and you hear the six C notes
available from the sound chip:

220:

290 IF TKTM+25 THEN 290

300:

Other scales

The notes on the keyboard can be
arranged to form scales other than
major scales. Scales provide the basic

14 Commodore Computing June 1987

building blocks from which a tune is
constructed and give the music a sense
of tonality or affinity with a certain group
of pitches. If we play only on the black
notes of a piano we are using five notes
which form a pentatonic (meaning 'five')
scale. It sounds very oriental — or what
Westerners consider to be oriental. In
more common use is the minor scale
which you can hear by making the
following alterations to the second
program (1.5):

150 FOR N=1 TO 8
240 DATA 16,195,18,209,19,239,22,96,
25,30,26,156,31,165,33,135

Other scales exist. These contain
various numbers of notes and various
intervals but most of them are written
using the standard notation we are
discussing.

The length of a note

There are two aspects in the timing of
music which should not be confused:
the first is the duration of individual
notes and the second is the tempo or
speed of a piece of music.

The duration of an individual note is
relative only to the other notes in the
piece and in no way does it determine
the speed or tempo of the music.

(Figures 2.6 and 2.7, page 25)
The duration of notes in standard
music notation is shown in the figure
along with their English and American
names. The American names are easier
to understand immediately and seem to
be attracting numerous converts from
the English system.

The duration value shows how long
each note sounds in relation to each
other. If a note has a dot placed after it,
this lengthens its duration by one half.
Thetempoofapieceisdeterminedbyan
instruction given at the beginning of the
music and although fast pieces will
often contain semiquavers and demi-
semiquavers, you cannot absolutely
determine the speed of a piece by just
looking at the notation.

Rests play an important part in music
too, and they go by the same name as
their note equivalent with 'rest' tagged
on the end, eg quaver rest. These can be
increased in length by one half by the
addition of a dot but it is more usual to
see a rest of the equivalent half value
placed after the other.

Beats in the bar

The time signature of a piece of music is
indicated at the beginning of the stave
by two figures, one over the other. The
upper figure denotes the number of

'beats in a bar' and the lower figure
denotes the length of each beat. For
example, a time signature of 2/4 tells us
that there are 2 beats to the bar, each
made up of a quarter note or crotchet.
3/4 is three beats to the bar, each a
crotchet, and is the time signature in
which most waltzes are written. 4/4 is
sometimes written just as a large C and
referred to as Common Time and is by
far the most common time signature of
all encompassing quicksteps, foxtrots,
rock 'n' roll, ballads and most classical
music. The upper figure indicates the
pulse or rhythm which runs through the
music.

Time signatures can be altered at any
point in the music and, indeed, can
consist of any combination of notes the
composer wishes to use.

If you're at all serious about music,
you could do worse than grab a copy
(preferably by legal means) of How To
Read Music by Helen Cooper, a
distinctively written and well-illustrated
£3.50's worth of information from Music
Sales (0284 702600).

In the next article we'll navigate our
way around the SID chip reigster map
and see how to make it produce the
sounds and pitches we want. Reserve
next month's copy now — or buy the
book. Or both!

I.W.

COMMODORE

PLUS-4/C16

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WISP offers you a refreshing new way to operate your PLUS 4. WISP
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luch faster than even a disc drive) The last load and save to cassette

SUPER SPRITE

; extremely clever utility allows you to use 8 sprites simultaneously
r a low-resolution screen With this program you can now imitate
sprites found on the Commodore 64' Each sprite is composed of
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Superb tape to tape back up copier catering for the maionty of PLUS-
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ELECTRIK PENCIL!!!

* 'ruly excellent high resolulion art program Magnificent master-
ces can be quickly drawn using the powerful facilities provided by
this package The program is entirely written in high speed machine
code and includes Variable pencil size. Variable drawing speed. Easy
select cursor menu, pixel draw/plot, freehand, lines, circles, flood.
characters/letters plotted on high-res screen at any position. 121
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Cassette only £7.95
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Cheques/POs to: WIZARD SOFTWARE <Dept. KJS) 20
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\A/I7J\ DD SOFTMfA RE (Dept YY) 2 ° Hadrian Dr,ve > Redn '" s > Exeter, Devon EX4 1SR

Commodore Computing June 1987 15

hJriteoti.,..!!

Dear C.C.I.,

I wrote to you regarding the sale of
software for the Commodore C128
explaining that I had not found any
shopswithinreasonabledriving distance
to where I live. Well, having recovered
from a deep depression and removed
my head from the rope to which I was
about to hang myself, I decided that at
least one more attempt at finding a shop
that sells software for'my much loved
C1 28 was necessary. Afterall there must
be one near me, somewhere? Well there
is. This Aladdin's cave is called The 64
Software Centre which happens to be
near Holborn in London. Most of you
will know about the mail order as
advertised in CCI but you may not know
about the small shop in 1 Princeton
Street, London.

A complete stock is held there for the
C64 (or 64C if you prefer), C128 and of
course the Amiga. Plus 4 owners are not
catered for, but if you were to see the
stock you'd know why. Not only does he
stock the software but he also has the
computers to demonstrate the software
with. As if that was not enough he is
knowledgeable about the differences in
software, i.e. in my case the word
processors. I finally opted for Pocket
Writer 1 28 through his help (it's a shame
I didn't ask his name). To sum it up, a
more helpful person than you could
hope to meet runs this much needed
shop.

Obviously I am writing this letter
using Pocket Writer 128 and I haven't
got used to all the facilities yet, but I
think a few comments are necessary.
First, I had great difficulty in setting up
Pocket Writer 128 for my printer, which
is a CBM MPS1000, to run NLQ in
Commodore mode. Second, it took me a
bit longer to transfer Easy Script files
than I expected but I think this was due
to my inept methods of reading the
reference guide (engage brain before
fingers?). Lastly, the dictionary for
Pocket Speller is in my mind a very
daunting task to set up (all those words),
but I'm getting there slowly. I've com-
pleted all the A's, just another twenty-
five letters of the alphabet and a few files
to go through. Well done Digital Solu-
tions Inc.
Yours gratefully,
M. A. Hinton, Harlow, Essex
P.S. While I was in The 64 Software
Centre a chap came in and started to run
a very interesting piece of software/
hardware on the C128. The hardware
was the expansion ram and the software
was running digitized pictures from a
video camera, giving the effect of anima-
tion. I bring this fact to your attention
because I had been to the Ninth Official
Commodore Show and I had not seen
anything like this at the show. My
question is very simple, "WHY NOT".

Dear C.C.I.

have written to many magazines, many
times. I have never had one letter
printed. This really annoys me, espe-
cially as the magazines encourage
people to write to them. Do the people at
these magazines know that first class
stamps are expensive, and that great
effort is put into every letter? It seems a
great shame to waste my letters, or at
least for me it is.

I think that most magazines don't print
letters unless they're really exciting,
funny or in general sensationalised.

I have never written to your magazine,
mainly because I haven't really noticed
your section before. I apologise for this
and hope that it is accepted. I do have
my reasons. I don't know but to me this
letter seems OK. Please don't be another
mag, and annoy me. PLEASE PRINT
MY LETTER.

Do you realise that you have been
printing an advertisement in your maga-
zine that is false. I sent off for an
alleigning and cleaning Kit for CBM
tape recorder months ago. Surely it
should have arrived by now. Please can
you sort them out and give me news of
them. The address is:— 28 Farmer Way,
Netherton, MerseysideL304XL.Tel:051
521 2202. 1 would be most grateful if you
could do that for me.

I think that your magazine is very
good, I'm sure a lot of other people do as
well. The only thing is that it's a bit dull in
places for my tastes.
Yours faithfully
Peter David Dudley, Surrey

Dear Peter

I'm not surprised you haven't had many
or any letters published. You sound as
someone here said, 'a pompous little
twit. 'And what is your letter about? Not
getting published? It's a tough life kid.
Nobody owes you a living or publication.
A published letter has to be interesting
and express its point briefly and
interestingly. Your letter does neither,
and it's certainly dull in places too! You
don't even properly explain what your
complaint about the advertisement really
is. Is it a classified ad? Have you proof
that your money arrived? Why should
we sort it out if you haven't made
enough effort? And it doesn't sound as if
you have. But we have published your
letter. Why? As an example of what not
to write to a magazine and a dire
warning to others. If you want publi-
cation don't sound or write or even think
like this!

Dear C.C.I.

With reference to your two reviews on
'Simulations' in the March edition of CCI
I was immediately interested.

I sincerely hope however, that your
judgement of 'Super Huey II' was better
than that of 'Ace of Aces'.

Though I have never seen or played
S.H.2 I have had many hours under my
belt from the original version, and am
looking forward to seeing S.H.2.

As for 'Ace of Aces', well, what can I
say. YUCK! — the loading is in sections
(not too bady, but why?), and the title
music is awful. I think it's supposed to be
'Land of Hope & Glory' — or something
equally stirring. The notes are played
out of key and time, the result being that
it sounds as if it's being played by deaf
Russians with the score sheet having
been written in Japanese. Granted, the
graphics are very good — particularly
the side views.

BUT:— i) Why do enemy planes always
appear to be in the cloud?
ii) Why is the ground never visible —
except through the bomb bay (apart
from the fact that the cloud is 3,000 ft
thick!)?

iii) Why is there never any flak across
Europe or at the target?
iv) Why is there no fighter cover over
Europe or at the 'bombable targets?

The programme is to put bluntly,
BORING. Set the plane for the right
direction using your compass, adjust to
a suitable altitude and set it level before
going to put the kettle on whilst you fly
across Europe. Come back and bomb
the target (easily done — particularly
the subs) readjust the heading and
altitude for London before going to
make another coffee!

If I was asked for my rating it would
just about manage IFFY. Taking the
price into account (£9.95 — cassette) it
would then be unprintable except in
hieroglyphics.

At the same time as buying PoP (Pit of
Pits) I also bought the disk version of
'Gunship' (£19.95). The difference apart
from helicopter and Mosquito is abso-
lutely incredible. Personally the rating
for 'Gunship' is MEGA unless of course
there is a higher one!

It's well worth the money, is a very
good simulation — though probably for
the more dedicated simulation addicts.
How about a review for the other
readers? I'll be looking forward to see it
to say the least!!

2nd Lt. Flying Pig N.D.S., A.C.M.,
S.E.A.C.R., A.M., Purple-Heart, etc . . .
G. E. Schofield, Oldham

Andy Moss replies

/ think that you are being a bit over
critical here Mr. Schofield, as in the
review I did point out that Ace of Aces
was not meant to be taken as a serious
flight simulator but more of an arcade
shoot 'em up, which concentrates more
on action than realism. I also said that it
would appeal to youngsters more than
the dedicated flying enthusiast. As for
Gunship, I absolutely agree with you,
(see the review in May's CCI).

16 Commodore Computing June 1987

Commodor e 64/1 28 Books From

Abacus Ml Software

•*>*k

COMMODORE^

llOT

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

•••»» «=■ g

AOATA Bee t" 3QOK PVJBJ&<EO 6Y

Abacus ffifflfll Software

Computer Aided Design on the
C-128 & C-64

Computer Aided Design (CAD) is an increas-
ingly important application for computers. This
book examines many of the professional design
techniques in use today, giving you examples
that can be demonstrated on the C-128 (in
BASIC 7.0) and the C-64 (in Simons BASIC).
Learn the fundamentals of CAD while develop-
ing your own CAD system - 3D drawing, reflec-
tion, duplication filling, mirror imaging,
zooming, and more. Many sample programs
for both the C-128 and C-64, including
CADDYMAT, a complete mini-CAD system.

AB420 310 pages £12.95

ccuuanciRES] r r \ (<■>)

The dchmftve /y (fi\

BASIC souice U f — * ^-^

BASIC Training Guide

Urn nm 55T5f5

—

C-128 BASIC Training Guide

The complete reference work for C-128 users
wanting complete knowledge of Commodore's
BASIC 7.0. Topics covered include Data-flow
and program design, advanced programming
techniques; menu creation, graphics program-
ming; multidimensional arrays, sort routines,
data management and window programming;
BASIC internals, token table, and the monitor.
Included are several useful utilities. A must for
BASIC programmers wanting to make fullest
use of their 128's.

AB430 350 pages £11.95

COMMODORE ^) IqS ft)

OnOMtlbnQt U

BASIC 7.0
INTERNALS

Him rn~n QXD' ' ' ' '

OTKro ix m

'i in 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1

asap

ICflaOOX <"U(1.SWED FT*

Abacus 111251 Software

C-128 BASIC 7.0
Internals

The complete reference work for C-128 users
wanting an all-encompassing knowledge of
Commodore BASIC 7.0. Topics covered include
Dataflow and program design, advanced
programming techniques; menu creation,
graphics programming; multi-dimensional
arrays, sort routines, data management and
window programming; BASIC internals, token
table, and the monitor. Included are several
useful utilities. A must for BASIC programmers
wanting to make fullest use of their 1 28's.

AB425 350 pages £16.95

'

COMMODORE -• | lr\ (r,\

PEEKS & POKES

w=-0 0—»

0— V f~\ *—

^^

• OA'A » Cut n B00« njfc.iMOIT'

A bacasfflfi] Software

C-128 Peeks & Pokes

Presents dozens of programming quick-hitters.
Useful techniques on the operating system,
stacks, pointers, keyboard, sprites, hi-res
graphics in 40 and 80 column, the
BASIC interpreter, 6502 and Z-80
assembly language and more.

AB435 200 pages £11.95

1541 Repair & Maintenance
Handbook

Here's the book you've been waiting for: it
describes the 1541 drive's hardware, including
all the maintenance and repair information you
need to keep your disk drive operating
smoothly. Included are schematics, alignment
testing, quick realignment tips, error-correc-
tion hints, electronic and digital techniques.
Repair your drive with ease using this excellent
handbook. Large format.

AB990 106 pages £12.95

Science & Engineering
for the C-64

An introduction to the use of the C-64 computer
in scientific applications. Describes variable
types, computational accuracy, computers in
science; POKES useful in solving scientific
problems; various sort algorithms; bubble,
quick and shell sorts. Topics include linear and
nonlinear regression, CHI-square distribution,
Fourier analysis, matrix calculations, more.
Programs from chemistry, physics, biology,
astronomy and electronics. Includes many
program listings.

AB955 340 pages £12.95

Adventure Gamewriter's
Handbook

This is a step-by- Jep guide to designing and
writing your own adventure games. You'll learn
the strategy behind programming adventures;
motivating the players, using text and/or
graphics, "saving" a game for later play, and
more. Included is the complete listing for an
automated adventure game generator with
editor and interpreter.
AB975 225 pages £10.95

Printer Book for the
C64 & VIC-20

Here's an in-depth handbook that explains all of
the things that you can do with your '64 (or
VIC-20) and a printer. Topics covered include:
interfacing your printer to the computer, using
secondary addresses forvarious printers, using
printer ports and the principles of printing
graphics: utilities and programs for text and
graphics hardcopy, formatting program listings
and more.
AB965 340 pages £12.95

am

GEOS

Inside
and out

The most thorough guidebook to effectively using GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System).
The sophisticated GEOS user interface gives the Commodore 64 the power and ease of use
previously found only with computers costing many times more. Whether you re a beginner or a
seasoned computer user, if you use GEOS, then this book contains the information you need. GEOS
Inside and Out gives the beginner a gentle introduction to operating GEOS. Later chapters acquaint
the reader with the geoWrite and geoPaint applications, as well as GEOS accessories. One chapter is
dedicated to practical uses for GEOS by running step by step through applications. GEOS Inside and
Out contains a complete listing of FILEMASTER, a fantastic utility with which you can convert your
own '64 programs to GEOS format. FILEMASTER lets you create a custom icon for the converted
program as well as its own info screen. Other topics include a useful Tips and Tricks section tor
applications and accessories, creating custom GEOS windows for your programs, and details about
GEOS file format. Programs include a single-step simulator to display GEOS memory locations and
registers in machine language, and a constant display digital clock. Optional diskette recommended.

AB440 310 pages £12.95

AB440D Optional diskette £4.95

Available from your local dealer or
directly from

Precision Software Ltd. a

6 Park Terrace,
Precision Worcester Park,
Software Surrey K T4 7JZ

Telex 8955021 Precis G a A

01-330 7166

FIGHTING WORDS

The Jeff Minter Page

Greetings, my fellow blasters and
zappers. I've nearly finished Revenge II
now, and I'm getting ready to get well
stuck in to Colourspace II on my ST . . .
speaking of which, I've been asked to
perform Colourspace in the Armagh
Planetarium, which should be cool and
hyper-groovey, they gonna turn me
loose on their system with FIVE huge
video projectors displaying on the dome
itself, I can barely sleep nights for
drooling! . . .

However, as usual, on to matters
Commodorian, and specifically, the
games market. I've never been a fan of
the hyper-commercial style of game
promotion that's current in the industry
right now, and as usual I've blamed the
system for all the evils in computerdom,
and I've tended to think of 'the system'
as being the breadheads behind the
Great Marketing Machine.

There's more to it than that, though.
The games market is a pretty dull place
to be at the moment, and we're all a little
bit to blame for its tediousness. Of
course we're not as much to blame as
the aforementioned breadheads, 'coz
they're the ones who have indirectly
shaped the market into its present form;
but we're still to blame for being
suckered into following their lead. Here's
how we've done it:

First, there's you lot, the games-
buying public. You're all awkward
vermin in that you fall for the hype put
out by the mega-companies, and also
that you'll buy anything at all that's been
licensed, whether or not the conversion
is actually any good! I mean, I've seen
perfectly dreadful stuff high up in the
charts that's only got there because it
purports to be either the home version
of a famous arcade game, or to be based
around some famous film or TV series.
In the first case, the arcade license,
you're quite likely to be disappointed
anyway, because arcade machines these
days contain stuff like megabyte ROMs,
lots of sampled sound and 16-bit pro-
cessors, and only simplifying the
original game by huge amounts are you
ever going to get anywhere trying to
convert onto an overworked 64k
machine. (Of course there is the odd
occasion where the conversion does
come through pretty well — I'm thinking
in particular of Gauntlet, which, if you

ignored the bugs (yes, US Gold, they are
bugs . . . 'players may now walk off
screen' indeed!) was a pretty good
rendition of the original. Mind you,
Gauntlet itself is based upon an old Atari
dungeon game, so you're starting from
an 8-bit concept anyway. The arcade
game only used its extra hardware to
embellish this basic design). Then
there's the business of film tie-ins and
the like . . . why do you all continue to
fall for this blatantly obvious marketing
trick? The only games based on films
that come anywhere near capturing the
spirit of the original material can be
counted on the digits of one paw of an
Arcturan Two-toed MegaSloth, and
they're both running only on Atari
arcade hardware; namely Star Wars and
The Empire Strikes Back. If you're
thinking that you can expect to see the
essence of a multi-million pound epic
flick captured by your humble '64,
you're going to be disappointed, sun-
shine. It ain't going to happen. And don't
tell me that Domark or whoever has the
I icence to Star Wars either — a lot of the
atmosphere of the original game was
created by stuff like lots of digitised
speech, the fact that you sat in the booth
to play, and the special Star Wars
controller that gave you the feeling of
actually flying an X-wing. (It just won't,
be the same with your old Kempston>
now will it?) . . .

You lot ought to see that this licensing
lark is just a ploy to part you from your
hard-earned/scrounged bread. The
megasoftwarehouses know that if they
pay enough bread for a given high-
profile title, you lot will queue up,
tenners in hand, and buy it anyway, just
because of the name.

So wise up. If you want film titles, hire
the video. If you want to play Space
Harrier, go down the arcade. If you want
true arcade quality stuff at home, buy an
Amiga, but don't fall for all this hype and
marketing, 'coz it's destroying the
chances of more original stuff ever
appearing, 'coz it's subverting the very
programmers . . .

Selling their brains . . .

Yeah, us, the programmers and de-
signers, we're as guilty as you lot are.
We're caught in the same net. It's

difficult for a new programmer to get
anywhere with much original stuff these
days, because he knows that somebody
somewhere (probably at Elite or US
Gold) is going to release a licensed
product that'll outsell anything original
just because of the name. And of course
the major software empires keep their
money-machine going by offering good
bread for conversion hacks; so you end
up with a load of talented programmers
wasting themselves doing conversion
jobs when they could be doing some-
thing original. I mean, that's fine if you're
the sort of programmer who just gets a
kick out of getting 32 sprites on screen
over a multi-coloured smooth-scrolling
backdrop and don't particularly care if
the game design isn't your own . . . but
where's the fun in that? Conversion
work would drive me nuts. I know it —
have someone else tell me what my
sprites should look like, how many
points per alien shot, how many lives?
The very thought of someone else
imposing their will on my designs makes
me cringe . . . and it must be boring as
hell not being able to put your own
stamp of originality on the game . . .

But, of course, the sole motivation
within the software market these days is
money, so programmers and designers
sell their brains to the highest bidders,
and we get another round of conver-
sions, and no-one does anything freaky
any more, and the poor old gamer gets
nothing original. (Of course it isn't that
bad yet, but it's heading towards total
ennui, believe me).

Maybe I'm just a mutant who'll never
fit in . . . it's jut that when I started doing
games, it was great to be in the industry;
great to be out of 'the System' and in an
exciting new field where you could be
creative and make a living from it, too.
Now it seems that the System has taken
over even this young industry, with
programmers working 9-to-5 in offices
of software megacorporations produc-
ing copies of other people's games to
strict deadlines . . . and we're playing
into the hands of the breadheads,
conforming, buying boring conversions,
programming other people's ideas.

So think next time before you buy yet
another Big Name Title. Do you really
want yet another conversion? Wouldn't
you rather get something moreoriginal?
or have you been conditioned by the
marketing men who've set up the whole
deal to make themselves rich?

Right, that's all for now — it's 3.22 am
and I feel like doing a little more
programming. Something really
weird . . .

=j

18 Commodore Computing June 1987

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/BASIC

PART XII

This is unfortunately, the last in this
series which began way back in
February 1986. For the benefit of those
readers who want to know what they
have missed, here is a brief index of this
series:—
CCI Issue

1 Feb 1986 Synopsis: Discussion and
introduction to the BASIC programming
language.

2 Mar 1986 Synopsis: Design of algo-
rithms. Variable and string handling.

3 Apr 1986 Synopsis: Arrays — types
and uses. Garbage collection and
memory requirements.

4 May 1986 Synopsis: Loops and their
control. Counting using FOR-NEXTanti
DO-LOOP.

5 Junn 1986 Synopsis: Screen manage-
ment and design. Usage of SPC.

6 Aug 1986 Synopsis: Direct machine
access through PEEK and POKE. USR
and SYS calls.

7 Oct 1986 Synopsis: User defined
functions — DEFFN. Logical operators
and their use.

8 Nov 1986 Synopsis: Further discus-
sion of logical operators. Files and
input/output.

9 Dec 1986 Synopsis: File handling —
The PRINW command.

1 Jan 1 987 Synopsis: Further file-hand-
ling using relative files.

11 Mar 1987 Synopsis: Direct-access
programming of the disk drive.

I am reliably(l) informed by the Editor
that all of these issues are available as
back numbers — call to check the cost
since this depends on which country
you live in.

In the previous part of this series I
mentioned that queries about string
handling formed the bulk of your letters

we have received on this series so I will
look at this again, but first one of the
loose-ends or topics that have arisen
during the course of the series and
deserve more coverage. I'll start with
input routines because if these are not
handled correctly then the rest of your
program code is not going to work
however good it is.

Consider the classical routine of
obtaining a program input from the
user:—

200 INPUT "Your NAME Please";A$

Notice how I have used upper and
lowercase letters in the line. Now you all
know how to do this using the SHIFT
key — but you all have probably
experienced a program written in BASIC
that was typed in one type of character
set and by pressing the LOGO and
SHIFT keys together, the graphics
character set is then used. The resulting
mess on the screen is not very assuring
about the rest of the program. A way to
overcome this is to disable the action of
these two keys. This is done as follows:—

100 PRINT CHR$(8)

REM Inhibit the CBM/Shift Key

200 INPUT "Your NAME Please";A$

The keys can be released by using
CHR$(9) — refer to the ASCII codes in
your Users Manual for your own
machine to see the range of these
commands. Do not be afraid to try out
some of these codes, they are potentially
very useful.

However, line 200 still has a few
problems lying wait for the unwary
programmer. If the user simply pressed
the RETURN key then the string variable
A$will not contain what is termed a null-
string (in th words A$ = '"). The BASIC
on the Commodore 64 has difficulty
with these strings although later

machines can handle them it is probably
better to avoid null-strings. This can be
overcome by writing the program like
this:—

100 PRINT CHR$(8)

REM Inhibit the CBM/Shift Key

200 INPUT "Your NAME Please";A$

300 IF A$ = "" THEN GOTO 200

This program still exhibits a number
of shortcomings, not least the lack of
protection from the user breaking outoi
the program by use of the RUN/
RESTORE keys. The use of the POKE
command will overcome this although
this does mean that you will have to
carefully study the memory map of your
own machine since the address of this
varies between different models. To
make the input appear slightly more
attractive to the user we could employ
the asterisk character.

100 PRINT CHR$(8)

REM Inhibit the CBM/Shift Key

200 INPUT "Your NAME Please
*[CSRLCSRLCSRL]";A$

Note that "[CSRL CSRL CSRL]"
means left cursor key three times.

We now have an input screen that
appears with a flashing asterisk for the
prompt. But what would happen if the
usersimply pressed the RETURN key —
we would not have a null string but A$
would not contain an asterisk character.
Thus a trap is necessary: —

100 PRINT CHR$(8)

REM Inhibit the CBM/Shift Key

200 INPUT "Your NAME Please
*[CSRL CSRL CSRL]";A$

300 IF A$ = "*" THEN PRINT "[CSRUP

CSRUP]": GOTO 200

However, this would still allow the

user to move the cursor out of the

prompt line and around the screen thus

creating a mess — so a mechanism to

Commodore Computing June 1987 21

^ASM/

keep the cursor within the prompt line is
needed. I'll expand the above program
and comment on each line: —

100 PRINT CHR$(147) : PRINT
CHR$(8)

200 PRINT "What do you want to
do?":GOSUB 1000

300 IF A$ = "Quit" OR A$ = "QUIT"
THEN PRINT "[CLR]": END

400 PRINT A$ : GOTO 200

500 rest of your program

600

1000 A$ = ""

1010 PRINT "[RVSON SPACE
RVSOFF CLR]":

1020 GET B$ : IF B$ = "" THEN 1020

1030 B = ASC(B$) : IF B > 95 THEN
1020

1040 BL = LEN(A$):IFBL>20 THEN

1060
1050 IF B > 31 THEN A$ = A$ + B$:
PRINT B$: GOTO 1010

1060 IF B = 13 AND BL THEN PRINT
"": RETURN

1070 IF B = 20 AND BL THEN A$ =
LEFT$(A$,BL-1): PRINT B$

1080 GOTO 1010

The contents of the square brackets
mean reverse video ON then the space
bar, then reverse video OFF followed by
the CLR/HOME key. Note the safety net
of either version of "quit ' being catered
for in the line 300. Also note that you
cannot have: —

300 IF A$ = "Quit" OR "QUIT" THEN
PRINT "[CLR]": END

You must explicitly declare the
optional inputs each time — I know it
would be nice if the above line were
possible, but unfortunately this is not so
in Commodore BASIC.

The program really starts at line 1000
after being directed there after a screen
setup routine where A$ is assigned to a
null string. Line 101 is a further screen
handler while line 1020 initiates a GET
loop waiting for a key to be pressed. B$
is then converted in line 1030 to an
ASCII numeric value using the ASC
function and assigned to numeric
variable B. The ASCII value of the
keyboard input is then checked for its
numerical limits by the use of the
numeric variable B. The reason why we
are testing for an ASCI I value beyond 95
is because these values represent
graphical characters and not letter
characters — referto your ASCII table in
the User Manual.

You can if you wish, test only for
numeric input from the user by more
closely specifying the range of variable
B. For example setting the range to 48-
57, not forgetting to include value 13 for
the RETURN key and value 20 for the
DEL key (refer to your ASCII table) will
allow only numeric values.

In line 1040 we use another test — this
time for string length using the LEN
function. This uses the numeric variable

BL to look at the length of our original
keyboard input string, namely A$. Any
value greater than 20 is directed to line
1060 where a comparison test is made.
Note the use of the RETURN command
on line 1060 to direct program flow back
to line 300 — a GOSUB must always
have a matching RETURN, in this case
the original GOSUB was on line 200.

1020 GET B$ : IF B$ = "" THEN 1020

1030 B = ASC(B$): IF B > 95 THEN
1020

1040 BL = LEN(A$) : IF BL>20THEN
1060

1050 IF B > 31 THEN A$ = A$ + B$:
PRINT B$: GOTO 1010

1060 IF B = 13 AND BL THEN PRINT
"": RETURN

1070 IF B = 20 AND BL THEN A$ =
LEFT$(A$,BL-1): PRINT B$

1080 GOTO 1010

Line 1050 should be looked at in
conjunction with line 1030 where both
lines are testing and numeric the
numeric value of B. What we are looking
for here is to see if the RETURN key has
been pressed — this has the ASCII value
of 13, or the DEL key has been pressed
— ASCII value of 20. Thus line 1050 is
saying that if the string variable B$ has
an ASCII value within our specified
range of 31 to 95, the latter being tested
for in line 1030, then add it to the original
string variable A$. At the same time the
keyboard input is echoed to the screen
for the benefit of the user. The final part
of this line then returns to line 1010 to
collect further data.

I discussed line 1060 earlier as being
part of the loop from line 1040 and line
1 070 demonstrates the use of the LEFT$
function. If the ASCII value of B$ is 20
(the DEL key has been pressed) together
with a string length greater than 0, this
line reduces the input string length by
(BL-1). Remember that LEFT$ is struc-
tured so that the number of characters
made available in the string are depen-
dent on the value of the variable after the
comma, counting from the start or left-
hand end of the string. If we were using
the RIGHT$ function then the starting
point would be from the current end of
the string or right-hand side. In this
case, it is the value of BL less 1 since we
have just used the DEL key.

The final section of this line then
echoes the modified input to the screen
and line 1080 completes the program by
looping back for further input until the
RETURN key is detected. The above
routine is a simple, general-purpose
program to show how to handle strings
in static and dynamic form — that is
where the string contents can or cannot
be accurately forecast.

The following program demonstrates
string contents that are predictable and
are used in an optional selection
program.

100 PRINT CHRS[8); PRINT CHR$(147)

200 PRINT "Option ONE : PRESS '1'"

300 PRINT "Option TWO : PRESS '2'"

400 PRINT "Option THREE : PRESS '3 1 "

500 PRINT "Option FOUR : PRESS , 4 ,n

600 PRINT "Option FIVE : PRESS '5'"

700 PRINT "Option SIX : PRESS '6'"

800 PRINT "Option SEVEN : PRESS '7'"

900 PRINT "Option EIGHT : PRESS 'B'"

1000 PRINT "To QUIT : PRESS , Q'"

1010 PRINT: PRINT: PRINT "Press ANY Key lor Menu Option."

1020 GOSUB 1050

1030 FOR IHTO 1000: NEXT

1040 GOTO 100

1050 FOR I = 1 TO 10: GET A$: NEXT

1060 GET A$: IF AS = "" THEN 1060

1070 IF AS = "Q" THEN PRINT CHR$(147): END

1080 B = ASC(AS): IF Z < 49 OR Z > 57 THEN THEN 1050

1090 ON B - 48 GOTO 2000.3000.4000.5000.6000.7000.8000.9000

2000 PRINT "Option ONE Selected": RETURN

3000 PRINT "Option TWO Selected": RETURN

4000 PRINT "Option THREE Selected": RETURN

5000 PRINT "Option FOUR Selected": RETURN

6000 PRINT "Option FIVE Selected": RETURN

7000 PRINT "Option SIX Selected": RETURN

8000 PRINT "Option SEVEN Selected": RETURN

9000 PRINT "Option EIGHT Selected": RETURN

There are a lot of similarities carried
over from the original program into the
above program. I don't feel it is
necessary to fully go through this one
since there is nothing dramatic in there
and you should be able to follow it
provided you have worked through the
first program.

However, there are many enhance-
ments that an enterprising programmer
could add. For example, you could use
colours for the screen, border and
characters — what about using a
flashing border or characters for an
input error? The menu itself would look
much more interesting if the TAB
function was used to stagger the lines —
similarly you could add a sound that
confirms that a key has been pressed.
These are all simple ideas that distin-
guish a good creative programmer from
a mediocre one and I'm pretty certain
that regular readers of this series are
strongly interested in becoming the
former.

Well that is it. I sincerely hope that all
of the effort that has gone into this series
has started some of you down the road
of BASIC programming. While there
may be many moments of frustration
with "SYNTAX ERROR IN...." or
"RETURN WITHOUT GOSUB ERROR
IN...", don't worry too much for it is
highly unusual for a program to run
correctly the first time, if at all. However,
if you have experienced that immense
feeling of pleasure and satisfaction
when YOUR PROGRAM works correctly
then you know why learning to program
is well worth the effort. The feeling is
identical to that when you suddenly find
yourself riding a bicycle without falling
off or starting to swim without sinking
into the water— it all suddenly seems so
easy and you wonder why it seemed so
hard. Computers are here to stay and an
investment in your time learning to
program is an investment in your future
— don't ever lose sight of this and keep
programming.

B.D.

22 Commodore Computing June 1987

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Simply send your computer
securely packed, together
with a cheque or postal order for the
maximum fee to the address below.
Your computer will be repaired and
returned to you within 24 hours
together with the balance of the fee
and your FREE £33 worth of
software.

Or if you prefer a written
quotation just send £2.50 to
cover post & packing.

E

Alternatively just quote your
Access or Visa card number.

Commodore £29.00

+ £1.50 p.p.

I Spectrum I
£9.95

+ £1.50 p.pT'

REPA/RS

SPECIALIST COM!

Dept.18, Unit 4, M.E.B. Works, Windsor Road,
Enfield, Redditch,B97 6DJ. Tel:Redditch 65671.

Computers received beyond economical repair, or tampered with, may cost more than our fixed rates, these will be charged at an hourly rate + parts.

WE SET THE STANDARD BY WHICH EVERYONE ELSE IS JUDGED

Teatuie

Mini Office II

The Perfect Package

Reviewed in CCI May

Ik Mini Office II is a comprehensive
iVi suite of business programs for
the Commodore 64/128. The suite
incorporates Word Processor, Data-
base, Spreadsheet, Graphics, Com-
munications, and a Label Printer.
The disk version allows movement
between the separate modules via a
main menu and all of the modules
are loaded using a disk turbo. Side 2
of the disk holds file conversion
programs to convert Mini Office files
to be compatible with Mini Office II.
Also there is a demonstration
Database file on the second side.

We followed the creation of this
excellent 'home productivity' pack-
age from its beginnings and felt
there was no better commentator
than Richard Franklin, who wrote
the majority of it, to tell CCI readers
how it came about, how the problems
were overcome and the advantages
it has for users.

The Problems writing a
Package such as
Mini Office II

The first thing to consider when writing
any professional piece of software is
what language to write it in. The main
choices to consider are Basic, or
Machine code, and more recently 'C
(which is becoming a much more
popular language these days). Other
languages such as Pascal are not really
suitable for these type of programs as
the file handling facilities are rather
limited (not very good for, say, the
Database program), and apart from that,
compiled programs tend to produce
rather long object code and that again
would not be suitable for such programs.
This rules out Pascal and 'C

This leaves me with the two main
choices, and Basic, being rather slow
and unsecure, Commodore Basic in

particular (machine code routines would
have to be written for error trapping
etc.), can also be ruled out. This left me
with just one choice, the trusty Machine
code.

Machine code programs can be very
fast when written properly, but can
cause hours of hair pulling trying to find
that elusive bug although the routine
looks perfect.

So, having chosen the language to
use, I then had to make the choice as to
what Assembler to use. My choice was
between Mikro 64 and the Commodore
Assembler Development package. Mikro
is a handy assembler to have but for
large programs it can be a problem as
the cartridge knocks off 8K of the area
you can assemble to. Another problem
with Mikro is that each source file is
loaded into memory and then processed
and for the same reason about memory
you would have to keep the source files
small.

The Commodore Assembler gets
round that problem by assembling from
the disk back to the disk. Therefore, all
memory available after the assembler
has been loaded can be used for the
symbol table which is very large on
some of the programs (the Database
program assembled to about 25K).

The source files are read from the disk
sequentially and are assembled directly,
and on the second pass, an object file is
written back to the disk. All of this disk
access would slow down any computer
and with the notoriously slow disk drive
speed of the 1541, assembling takes a
very long time (enough time to put the
coffee on, walk the dog and still be back
for the 2nd pass).

The main problem with the Com-
modore Assembler, which is not found
in Mikro, is that it will only allow access
to disk drive device 8. Therefore, all
source files and the written object file
(generally 2.5 times larger than the final
program file) must fit onto one disk. This
proved to be impossible with the Word
Processor, Database, Spreadsheet, and
the Graphics programs.

To cure this problem, either get a dual
disk drive (4040 or like) or a single disk
drive with a larger storage capacity, and
an interface such as Interpod or the
Brain Boxes IEEE interface. In a previous
job as Technical editor of CCI, I regularly
worked on a 4040 through Interpod.
This proved very useful as I could have
direct access to twice as much infor-
mation, but, although the 4040 is a
parallel disk drive, the data is converted
to serial through Interpod. For the cost
of 2K of memory, the BB IEEE gives
parallel data transmission and so allows
you to use the full speed of the disk
drive.

I could live with the loss of 2K of
memory, but for the disk drive, I chose
the CBM SF1001 which is a single drive
unit with 1M storage capacity. The
configuration of the SFD1001 going
through the Brain Boxes IEEE interface
speeded up assembly by about 4 times
and there was the added bonus of faster
loading and saving of source files when
editing. Also I only needed one disk to
store the source for all of the programs
that I wrote. The BB interface also
includes a Centronics printer driver and
I was able to list my source to a faster
printer (the Mannesmann Tally MT80).

Editor

For editing the source files, I didn't use
the editor that comes with the assembler
because of the lack of function keys and
the limited numberof added commands.
I used instead a program called SYSRES
(obtained aboutfouryears back). I have
never found a programmers utility to
rival Sysres. Not only does it allow the
function keys to be defined, but the
normal keys used in conjunction with
the LOGO key as well.

Another nice feature of Sysres is the
bi-directional scrolling of a program file
by use of the cursor keys. This means
that the LIST command is rarely needed.
This, along with the large arsenal of
added commands for editing the files,
and the fact that there is no loss of
program space with Sysres loaded (the

Organised by
Database Exhibitions

CO**** A

t** 1

Meet Jim
Butterfield

The guru of the
Commodore world
will be flying to
London for the
show. This is your
chance to meet the
man who's the
leading authority
on the whole CBM
range.

Send for your
advance tickets
today . . .
With them you
can walk past
the queues —
and SAVE £1
per head off
normal prices!

3

10th Official

ft commodore

computer show

*L 10am to 6pm Friday June 12
m, 10am to 6pm Saturday June 13
» 10am to 4pm Sunday June 14

Champagne Suite & Exhibition Centre
Novotel, Hammersmith, London W6

Advance ticket orders

Please supply:

~\ Adult tickets at £2 |save£l|

J Under- 1 6s tickets at £1 |save£l).

10th Offtial
{""commodore

computershow

June
12-14
1987

Total £_

J Cheque enclosed made payable to
Database Publications Ltd.

J Please debit my credit card account
Access Visa

Post to: Commodore Show Tickets,
Europa House, 68 Chester Road,
Hazel Grove. Stockport SK7 SNY.

Name

Address

Signed

Admission at door:

£3 (adults), £2 | under 16s)

PHONE ORDERS: Show Hotline: 061-480 0171
PRESTEL ORDERS: KEY *89, THEN 614568383
MICROLINK ORDERS: MAILBOX 72.MAG001

Please quote credit card number and full address, Ref.SCC 16

'»■'■»'«'«'■■''■« ■-■■I- i ' ' ■ ■

CONTINUED FR0MPPIGE24

majority of the code sits behind the
Basic ROM) was a real boon.

So, armd with these items and one of
my books, The Commodore 64 ROMs
Revealed, I was ready to attempt this
task (I had never written anything of this
scope before). I needed to decide on
where the programs would reside in
memory and the choice was very simple.
I would put the code from $8000
onwards and make it simulate a cart-
ridge. With the screen moved up to the
$C000 block of memory, I had a full 31 K
memory pool for data storage and still
plenty of room for the program, using
the RAM behind the Basic and Kernal
ROM's and behind the I/O area.

One of my problems with having code
(or data) behind the ROMs was the
continual need to switch the ROMs in
and out (some of the programs use the
Basic ROM's arithmetic routines). It
became quite a joke later on in the
development, for me to mention to the
department head that I was suffering
from a weird bug, for him to suggest
whethertheROMsweretheproblem. In
most cases he was right (A Beeb and
Amstrad programmer, definitely NOT a
CBM programmer).

Other problems were to do with the
Kernal ROM's routines:

The input routine had to be made to
suppress cursor up and down from
causing the whole screen from scrolling.
To do this I re-wrote the routine to allow
input only on one line and to a specified
length, cursor up and down were either
ignored or, in the case of the database,
caused an exit with the corresponding
key for re-use (Up or down a line when
editing the records). Also the STOP key
was made to exit the input routine (a
major failing in the ROM version).

Later, by Carl Graham, who wrote the
Spreadsheet, a problem was found with
the Cassette data file routines. Basically,
the tape routines will read a Zero byte as
the end of file (except as the f i rst byte of
the file). This caused trouble as numbers
were being written out in their packed
format (0 is stored as five zero bytes).
Where this was necessary, turbo routines
were used to substitute the Tape
routines (Database, Spreadsheet,
Graphics, and Label Printer).

Problems with the serial (disk) ROM
routines are that, on occasion, they
cause the computer to hang. The best
way to demonstrate this is to try this
without a disk drive connected:

10 OPEN 15,8,15:GET#15,a$

This will cause the computer to hang
and can only be exited by RUN/STOP
RESTORE. Unfortunately, there is no
way of testing whether the disk drive is
present if you want to read the error
channel. Detecting the disk drive will
destroy the error message you are
trying to read.

Most of these problems have been
overcome, but the problem with the disk
routines is still there and can be tested
by anyone who has a copy of Mini Office
1 1 by entering the DOS command section
and pressing return (without a disk
drive).

In all, Mini Office II took over one and
a half years to develop with all of the
programs including the disk and tape
security, with the exception of the
Spreadsheet and the Graphics pro-
grams, being written by myself. I hope
that you, the users, will find Mini Office II
easy to use and comprehensive enough
for your needs.

The

Communications

Module

The Mini Office II disk or tape comes
with two versions of the communications
program. The first (User port version),
available from the main menu on the
disk version, works using the built in
RS232 routines to a standard modem
through a suitable RS232 interface. The
second version has been written speci-
fically for the COMPUNET modem. The
reason for the COMPUNET version not
being availablefrom the main disk menu
is that the main menu and the other
programs will not work with the
COMPUNET modem present.

Both communications programs are
scrolling terminal types and will not
handle Viewdata format.

The two versions operate in exactly
the same way except that the COMPU-
NET version works in 1200/75 baud only
and has options for dialling and
dropping the line. The user port version
on the other hand can only handle
systems where the transmit and receive
baud rates are the same (up to a
maximum of 2400 baud). Receiving
information at a rate greater than or
equal to 1200 baud is not reliable due to
the RS232 driving routines being in
software.

All parameters for controlling the way
that the data is transferred between
computers can be modified to suit the
requirements of the system being used.
There is no need to worry about calling
standard ascii systems as the data is
converted to standard ascii when sent
and any data received is converted to
Commodore ascii for displaying and
storing in the buffer. The exception
being that files transmitted or received
in Expanded Ascii format will have no
conversion performed.

Expanded ascii is the file transmit
protocol used on MicroLink for pro-
grams and other non-ascii data (such as
weather maps). Each byte of information
is sent as two characters being the
hexademical notation of the byte (for

example 123 decimal is sent as 7B).
Most data on MicroLink, including the
weather maps are for the BBC micro
and I will try and supply for publication a
program that will convert BBC hi-res
screens to Commodore format and
display them.

For convenience sake, there is an
option to turn on a three line window at
the bottom of the screen. When this
window is enabled, all data received will
be displayed in the top 21 lines and any
data sent (from the keyboard or the
buffer) will be displayed in the bottom 3
lines. This can be very useful for typing
ahead on a bulletin board or such, as
normally data sent is echoed back
mixed in with anything already being
received. This would also prove useful
when accessing a multi-user adventure
game.

Buffer Operations

All buffer operations are performed
through the 31 K memory buffer and if
when receiving a file the buffer becomes
full, an XOFF character is sent to the
remote computer and the user is
informed of this. In this way, receiving a
long file can be done by filling the
buffer, exiting and going to the buffer
options menu to save it, clearing the
buffer, re-entering the chat mode,
turning receive file on, and sending an
XON (Ctrl-Q).

The software has been designed so
that, if required, it will also respond to
XON and XOFF characters received
through the modem.

Both ascii files (data on tape or SEQ
on disk), and program files (excluding
the load address) may be loaded into the
buffer for transmitting. Received files
may be saved as data or program files.
The program files may be saved as
Basic (load address of $0801) or as
Binary (input the load address in Hex).

Finally, the buffer may be printed or
viewed to screen. All Mini Office II
programs support Commodore MPS
printers and Epson via the RS232 port
(2400 baud). All programs except the
User port comms also support Cen-
tronics Epson compatible printers. The
Centronics driver is built into the pro-
grams and runs through the user port on
an Acknowledge protocol (not BUSY as
in the Stack interface). The reason for
the lack of Centronics printer option in
the user port communications program
is due to the fact that the user port will
already be occupied by the RS232
interface.

Next month I will be outlining the
abilities of the Word processor, Data-
base and Label Printer programs. These
are all integrated to a degree as the
Label Printer prints from Database files
and the Word Processor allows mail
merge from Database files.

R.F.

26 Commodore Computing June 1987

powerful home
and business
programs in just
ONE package — at
a price that simply
can't be matched!

WORD PROCESSOR
Compose a letter, set the print-
out options using embedded
commands or menus, use the
mail merge facility to produce
personalised circulars - and
more!

SPREADSHEET
Prepare budgets or tables, total
columns or rows with ease,
copy formulae absolutely or
relatively, view in either 40 or
80 column modes, recalculate
automatically - and more!

GRAPHICS

Enter data directly or load data
from the spreadsheet, produce
pie charts, display bar charts
side by side or stacked, overlay
line graphs - and more!

DATABASE SOFTWARE

DATABASE

Build up a versatile card index,
use the flexible print-out
routine, do powerful multi-field
sorting, perform all arithmetic
functions, link with the word
processor - and more!

COMMS MODULE

Using a modem you can access

services such as MicroLink and

book rail or theatre tickets,

send electronic mail, telex and

telemessages in a flash - and

more!

LABEL PRINTER

Design the layout of a label with
the easy-to-use editor, select
label size and sheet format,
read in database files, print out
in any quantity - and more!

Europa House, 68 Chester Road.
Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 5NY

ORDER FORM

Please send mc Mini Office II for the
Commodore 64/128

□ £16.95 cassette

□ £19.95 SWdisc

I enclose cheque made payable to
Database Software, or debit my
Access/Visa card:

Exp. date

Signed ...

Name

Address..

ORDER HOTLINE:
TEL: 061-480 0171

SEND TO: Database Software.

Europa House, 68 Chester Road,

L Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 5NY.
^^M i^_ ^ CCI6 87I

Twisted Circuits — Mick
Gower — Beaver Books
— £1.75

Twisted Circuits', edited by Mick Gower,
is published by Beaver Books, the child-
ren's fiction imprint of the Arrow pub-
lishing house. It's a sinister collection of
fairly ingenious 'Hi Tech' short stories
concerned with computers, the young-
ster who use them and what can happen
when the computer — not just the
programs — deviate from the norm.
Dragons appear out of one screen, a
computer 'brother' is demanded by
another and yet a third one wants to get
married to the-girl-(computer)-next-
door!

The stories are by authors who are, as
yet, not well-known in the science fiction
world (and on this showing one or two
of them may well remain so), but they
are, on the whole, competently written
and hold the attention of the reader.

If you have (or are), a 9-13-year-old
whose main interest in life is playing
games on his/her computer to the exclu-
sion of everything else, then Twisted
Circuits' could be the book to buy. The
stories in it might just make you, or
them, think 'What if . . . ?', and at £1 .75 it
won't break the (pocket-money) bank,
either. D.M.

Beaver Books, 62-5 Chandos Place,
London WC2N 4NW.

This Is The Way The
World Ends — James
Morrow — Victor
Gollancz Ltd — £10.95

Tombstone engraving is not usually the
kind of employment associated with the
hero of a novel, not even science fiction
novels where anything can happen and
often does. But that is George Paxton's
trade in This Is The Way The World
Ends' by James Morrow.

George's wife and child die in a
thermo-nuclear holocaust in the not-
too-distant future and he and five other
characters — military and civilian experts
involved in the war who, like George,
have managed to survivie it — are taken
aboard a submarine and nursed back to
something resembling health. Unfor-
tunately, the submariners prove to be
less altruistic than they at first appear,

for George and nis companions are 1
being kept alive to stand trial accused of
the extermination of humankind.

The prosecutors are representatives
ofthe 'unadmitted', the mass of humanity
that will now never be born and who
accuse George as one of those 'watchers'
who stood by and let it happen.

This Is The Way The World Ends' is a
novel on three levels. On the surface it
can be read as a straightforward sf
story, albeit one that is a cut above the
general run. Underneath that — the
second stratum, so to speak — is a
strong, satire on the defensive/offensive
posturing ofthe super powers and then,
running through it all, is an anti-nuclear
plea which, even if you don't agree with
the author's stance, will make you pause
for a great deal of thought.

George Paxtonisa likeable, ingenuous
hero with whom most of us can identify.
His desire for a scopa-suit — a protective
coverall supposedly proof against radia-
tion — for his little daughter, Holly,
leads him into signing a contract admit-
ting hisshareoftheguilt should nuclear
war ever occur. Naturally, no-one thinks
it will ever happen . . . George's gradual
realisation of his plight, his growing
affection for Morning Valcourt, a psy-
chotherapist assigned to help him over-
come his 'survivor's guilt' and the friend-
ships he forges with his fellow defend-
ants all help the story towards the final
'showpiece' trial, in which the outcome
seems inevitable but never quite certain.
Also weaving in an out of the fabric of
the story are Nostrodamus (yes, the
16th-century astrology), a giant vulture
and a Mad Hatter (no, not that one!),
whose shop can fly wherever the fancy
takes him or it.

A less well-written story would be
totally unvelievable but in James Mor-
row science fiction has found an author
whose descriptive passages are a delight
and who knows how to pace his narra-
tive. Combine these with his ability to
make the reader care about what
happens to the characters — the mark
of the true story-teller — and you have a
new name to add to your list.

The title is, of course, taken from T. S.
Eliot's The Hollow Men' and the quota-
tion ends 'not with a bang but with a
whimper'. James Morrow, in his book,
shows another view of how it could
reach the final curtain. Read it and find
out. D.M.

ictor Gollancz Ltd, 14 Henrietta St.,
London WC2E 8QJ.

Science Fiction Stories —
Tom Boardman Jnr —
Octopus Books — £1.99

A recent survey showed that only about
25% of the great British public brought a
book in 1986. (Have you noticed how
many bookshops there are in countries
like France and Spain?) It didn't say why
so few people paid out hard cash for
something that can give so much plea-
sure for so long but, probably, the cost
played a large part. When the average
price of a good read is now approxi-
mately a tenner, it's cheaper to borrow
the book from your local library.
Although, of course, the disadvantage
of that is that you have to return it in
three weeks when often you'd like to
keep it.

Some publishers are now waking up
to the fact that cheaper prices mean
more sales, Octoput Books are one of
them. They are now publishing a series
of hardbacks — not the usual paper-
backs, which get tatty so soon — which
are not only pleasant to handle and
good to read but are also astonishingly
inexpensive. Included in the series is
'Science Fiction Stories', edited by Tom
Boardman Jnr, and priced at only £1 .99!
(Mastertronic, are you listening?)

The shortest story is supposed to be
the one that goes, "The last man on
earth sat alone in a room. There was a
knock on the door . . ." Frederick Brown's
taut little tale based on those two sent-
ences is only one of the twenty-three
stories in this collection. It also includes
Isaac Asimov's, The Fun They Had', the
classic 'Who Can Replace A Man', by
Brian Aldiss and even H. G. Wells' 'In
The Abyss'.

For aficionades of the genre it's an
opportunity to renew acquaintanceship
with the masters and perhaps to re-read
some of those gems which may have
slipped your memory. For anyone new
to science fiction £1.99 is a very small
sum to spend to introduce either your-
self — or someone else — to the plea-
sures of space/time travel, telekinesis,
friendly, or unfriendly, aliens and, of
course, almost-human robots.

An anthology to be treasured and, at
this price, it's almost a giveaway! D.M.
Octopus Books, 59 Grosvenor St, Lon-
don W1X.

Commodore Computing June 1987

Cmi commodore

COMMODORE -PC

All models include MS DOS, GW Basic,
AGA Video Card, Serial & Parallel ports,

■ PC10 IBM-PC compatible £1095
512K RAM, 2X360K floppy djive

■ PC20IBM-AT compatible £1495
as above plus 20MB hard disk

■ PC40 IBM-XT compatible £2395
with 20 MB hard disk,

1 MB RAM, 1.5 MB floppy drive

ADD £200 FOR COLOUR MODELS
PC PRICES INCLUDE VAT, DELIVERY
AND 1 YEAR ON-SITE MAINTENANCE

Gffi

I Commodore 128D computer £499

I Commodore 128 computer £249

| NEW 512K expansion RAM £149

I Commodore 1571 disk drive £269

| MPS 1000 last NLQ printer £269

1 1901C colour monitor £335

I 64C computer £195

1 1541C disk drive £195

I 64C Connoisseur Collection £245

PRICES INCLUDE VAT, DELIVERY
AND ONE YEAR WARRANTY. ADD
£10 FOR OVERNIGHT DELIVERY

FROM £549!

'AMIGA

■ Amiga A500 with 01CK RAM, £549
880K 3.5" disk, mouse, soltwaro

■ Amiga A500M: As A r .oo above, £825
plusA1081 RGB colour monitor

■ Amiga A1000 Willi &12K RAM, £725
880K 3.5" disk, mouse, software

■ Amiga A1000M: As above, £995
plus A1081 RGB colour monitor

■ Amiga A1000MF; As above, £1195
plus A1010 3.5" ex!, dink driver

■ Amiga A2000 Willi 1MB RAM, £1095
880K 3.5" disk, mouse, software

■ Amiga A2000M: As above, £1395
plus A1081 RGB colour monilor

■ Amiga A2000HD: As A2000. £pi,one
with internal 20MB hard disk

■ Amiga A2020: As above, £phone
plus PC bridge board S lloppy

PRICES INCLUDE VAT, DELIVERY.
AND 1 YEAR ON-SITE MAINTENANCE
(1 YR WARRANTY ON A500 MODELS)

FREE GOLDEN KEY CARD!

with every 1000 or 2000 model Amiga...
stay at over 200 top hotels as often as
you like for a year, and for each night's
stay, |ust pay for breakfast and dinner!

C64 & 128 SOFTWARE

■ SuperSase 128

99^5

£57.95

■ Superscript 128

»yh

6495

■ VlzaWrlte 'Classic' 128

*?y

79.95

■ VlzaStar 128

123/5

99.95

■ Swift Calc 128

5^0

54.95

■ Data Manager 128

59/00

54.95

■ Wore: Writer 128

5s/rj

54.95

■ MlcroClerk 128

9a»^9

94.95

■ Pocket Planner 128

49.95

■ SuperBase 64 & Plus/4

?yk

37 95

■ Superscript G4

6SXS

4795

■ VlzaWrlte 64 Professions

•5^5
S9/95

39.95

■ VlzaWrlte 64 (cartridge)

69.95

■ VlzaStar 64 XL8

99X5

79.95

■ VlzaStar 64 XL4

7Sf4s

69.95

■ SuperBase Starter 64

39/5

19.95

■ SuperBase: The Book

11.95

■ SuperType 64 (disk or tape)

1495

■ Geos 64 V1.3

49.95

■ Simons Basic 64 (Cartridge)

39.95

AMIGA PERIPHERALS

■ A2088 PC-XT blidtro board £525
with 5.25" internal lloppy dnvo

■ A2286 PC-AT biidqn boaid £925
wall 5.25" Internal lloppy dnvo

■ A5060 2OMBinl.nii.-il haid £525
disk with MS DOS coittrotlM

■ A2090 20MH llll.-ni.il li.ud £625
disk with Aniiq.i DOM cnnliollnr

■ A2052 2MB lllloin.il RAM £425

■ A2058 SMBilliuin.il RAM £2245

■ A2010 3.5" internal disk drive £195

■ A1010 3.5" external dink drive £259

■ A1060 Sidecar PC compatible £739
HA1081 Amiga colour monitor £335

■ A1050 add-in RAM 256K £129

■ MegaBoard 2MB add-on RAM £490

■ Xebec 10 MB hard dink £995

■ Xebec 20 MB haid disk £1095

■ Xerox 4020 colour punter £1295

■ HP LaserJet lasoi piinlm £2095

■ HP LaserJet Plus £2995

■ Genlock viduo coittrnllril £449

■ DlglVlew TV diqili:-. ■: £ 2 1 9

■ Cherry A3 Digitizing r.ibltn £595

■ Easyl A4 Dt.iwinq Tnbldl £449

I SELECTED SOFTWARE FOR YOUR NEW AMIGAI

■ VlzaWrlte DeskTop

■ SuperBase Personal

■ Page Setter

■ Loglstlx

■ Analyse

■ Scribble II

■ De Luxe Paint II

■ De Luxe Print / Video
I De Luxe Music

£149.95
,4^5 129.95

zeyfs

99/5
¥}

gain's

139.95
154.95
94.95
94.95
139.95
84.95
94.95

■ True Basic

■ True Basic libf.nn-

■ MCC Pascal

■ A/C Fortran

■ Lattice C

■ Dynamic CAD

■ Aegis Draw Pius

■ Aegis Images

■ Aegis Animator

I COMMODORE 128 and 64... PROGRAMMER'S CORNER

PetSpeed 128
Super C 128
Cobol 128
Hack Pack 128
RamDos 128
BralnBox IEEE
Anatomy of the 128
Matrix 128
PetSpeed 64
Oxford Pascal 64
Oxford Pascal 64 (tape)
Super C 64
Cobol 64

The Basic 128 compiler, from Oxford Sysicms «p(£s £44 o

Complete C language, with extensions ^j/s

The complete COBOL package from Abacus
All-in-one Programmers Toolkit & Ram-Di:;k 3^5
Lightning fast Ram-Disk tor 512K expansion RAM
Supports PET/IEEE disks & printers etc. (125 or 64)
The 500 page insider's guide to the 120 tws

Run 64 programs on your 128 - in 128 mode! a^
The standard 64 Basic compiler trom Oxford 3-j/s
The complete J & W Pascal for your 64 40/5

Pascal for 64 tape users, as above ?^$

Complete C language, with extensions sa^s

The complete COBOL package from Abacus

Oxford BASIC 64

The ultimate utility pack for your 64...
a full Programmer's Toolkit (FIND, DUMP,
CHANG ;, MERGE, RENUMBER) plus
ultra-fast Basic compiler plus program
optlmlser, analyser & compressor! £34.9!

Oxford PASCAL 128

A full J&W Pascal compiler with both

Interactive mode (90K user area) & disk

compiler mode (120K)... graphics & sound

extensions... and both stand-alone and

modular run-time options! 49^95 .£44. vf-

IF YOU WANT IT TOMORROW-

CALL US TODAY!

ON 01-546-7256

Prices are POST FREE & include VAT.
Order by phone with your credit card,
or send cheque/PO or your credit card
number. Official orders welcome. We
despatch same day by FIRST CLASS
post. If our lines are busy, why not try
our 24-hour recorded order service,
on 01-541-5185.

Ref.A47 I**

SCafco

Software

LAKESIDE HOUSE, KINGSTON HILL, SURREY, KT2 7QT. TEL 01-S46-7256

■HSV-

HSV COMPUTER SERVICES LTD.
ALL OUR PRICES INCLUDE VAT &
CARRIAGE - NO EXTRAS TO PAY!!!

**** Special prices for Commodore users ****

RIBBONS

DPS1101 — £2.95 4023 — £3.95

1526 — £3.95

Red: Blue: Green: Brown: Purple: Orange: *

MPS802 — £3.95
•COLOURED RIBBONS -

Commodore MPS801
Commodore MPS803

Colours: £3.95
Colours: £3.95

Black: £2.95
Black: £2.95

UNIVERSAL DISKS

Universal disks are suitable for 40/80 track drives and have 2
notches and 2 holes.
10 20 30 40 50 100

£8.95 £17.00 £25.00 £33.00 £40.00 £75.00

BRANDED — ATHANA/MAXELL

3 1 / 2 SS/DD 3 1 / 2 DS/DD 5 1 / 4 SS/DD 5 1 /„ DS/DD
Maxell £23.95 £31.95 £11.95 £14.95

Athana £21.95 £26.95 £7.95 £8.95

HSV UNBRANDED DISKS

All bulk disks are supplied in cardboard boxes with write protect
tabs and labels.

10

20

30

40

50

100

3% SS/DD

15.50

30.00

44.00

57.00

70.00

135.00

DS/DD

17.50

34.00

50.00

65.00

80.00

155.00

5y 4 SS/DD

5.95

11.00

16.00

21.00

25.00

45.00

DS/DD

6.95

13.00

19.00

25.00

30.00

55.00

MAKE FILING EASIER BY COLOUR CODING YOUR SYSTEM

HSV COLOURED DISKS — Red: Blue: Green: Yellow: White:

BOXED TEN: £9.95

CONTINUOUS STATIONERY Micro-Perf All Edges

250 500 1000 2000
9.5" x 11" 60 GSM 2.95 4.95 8.95 14.95

TrueA4 90GSM 5.25 8.75 14.95

True A4 100GSM White Bond 6.50 9.95 16.25
True A4 100GSM Colours** 7.25 13.50 25.50

Colours available: — CREAM: BLUE: GREY:

Matching Envelopes (not continuous)

LABELS — CONTINUOUS:

3.5" x 1.5" (1 across) 2.95 4.95

4.0" x 1.5" (1 across) 3.25 5.50

4.0" x 1.5" (2 across) 3.75 6.50

2.75" x 1.5" (3 across) 2.75 4.50

RIBBONS

Canon PW1080A
PanasonicKXP1080/1090
Epson FX/MX/RX80
Taxan Kaga
Star SG 10/1 5
Epson LX80/86

Cols
£3.95

N/A
£3.95
£3.95
£2.50
£3.95

100= £5.95

9.50

10.50
11.95
8.50

Black
£2.95
£3.95
£2.95
£2.95
£1.50
£2.95

=£ 6.95
=£11.95
=£ 7.95
=£12.95
=£ 7.95
=£12.95
=£ 8.95

DISK STORAGE

50 x 5% Hinged Lid

100x5% Hinged Lid Lock

30 x 3% Hinged Lid

80 x 3 1 / 2 Hinged Lid Lock

50 x 5 1 / 4 Hinged Lid Lockable

120x5% Hinged Lid Lock

40 x 3 1 / 2 Hinged Lid Lock

PRINTER STAND — 80 COLUMN = £14.95 — suitable

for rear/centre feed
Tilt 'N' Turn Monitor Stands 12" = 12.95 14" 14.95
REXEL Binders — Blue/Red (please state) £2.50 each

HSV COMPUTER SERVICES CREDIT CARD HOT

LINE

*** 0256 463507 ***

HSV COMPUTER SERVICES LTD.,
23 HAMPSTEAD HOUSE,

TOWN CENTRE,

BASINGSTOKE, RG21 1LG

ALL PRICES INCLUSIVE VAT & CARRIAGE — NO EXTRAS

TO PAY

HSV-

News Feature

WIDEBAND COMMUNICATIONS —
THE NEW HIGH-TECH GOLDMINE

The wideband communica-
tions market is pushing past
the $3 billion level this year in
the U.S., and is projected to
pass $7 billion in 1990. Accor-
ding to a report from Interna-
tional Resource Development,
the burgeoning market has
become a "happy hunting
ground" for new high-technol-
ogy companies, who are leav-
ing many traditional telecom
suppliers "in the dust". "Some
of the big high-tech oppor-
tunities of the 1980s, such as
personal computers, have
already peaked or passed,
but wideband is just now rev-
ving up," says C. Thomas
Rush, project manager forthe
new IRD study.

Supplier Push
Strong; User Pull
Weak

While the US wideband market
is growing very rapidly, it is
dominated by supplier push

rather than user pull, says the
IRD report. For example video
conferencing, which "really
gobbles up bandwidth", is
growing rather slowly. The T1
and VSAT segments, by con-
trast are growing rapidly as
communications users figure
out how to save money by
using wideband digital com-
munications rather than bun-
dles of leased voice-grade
lines.

Startups Challenge
Leaders in Every
Sector

According to the IRD report,
the major U.S. supplier of
both wideband equipment and
wideband services is AT&T,
which is active in 13 of 17
wideband market segments
covered by the report. But in
16 of the segments, recent
startups are mounting strong
challenges to the market
leaders, and the competitive

pressure is leading to rapid
product obsolescence and
"more price pressure than
most vendors would really
like to see".

Long-standing vendors
such as Western Union and
RCA/GTE are "Sucking their
teeth, worrying about empty
transponder capacity", accor-
ding to Rush. The T1 multi-
plexer market, with more than
15 small-company partici-
pants, has become a "rat
race", despite falling prices
and razor-sharp profit mar-
gins, most vendors see the
future ofT1 as "just too prom-
ising to walk away from".

Japanese Equip-
ment Vendors
Challenge — And
Are Challenged

Unlike the consumer elec-
tronics market in the US.,
which is already totally domi-
nated by far-eastern vendors,

the wideband communica-
tions equipment mostly still
has "Made In The USA."
stamped on it. There are sig-
nificant Japanese challenges
in fibre-optic equipment and
microwave gear, and also in
image-related equipment such
as wideband facsimile. But
Nippon Electric's worldwide
strength in microwave equip-
ment is about to be chal-
lenged inturn by"somefancy
new digital microwave long-
haul gear from AT&T Net-
work Systems", and US supp-
liers of fibre-optic transmis-
sion equipment are "upping
bandwidth faster than the
Japanese can keep up with",
according to the report. In
video codecs, "it's a horse
race; US-based Pictel and
CLI are coming along OK, but
a strong product from NEC
may soon be joined by chal-
lengers from Mitsubishi and
Matsushita", according to
Rush.

DATABASE SERVICE GROWTH

The online database servi-
ces market will reach a reven-
ue level of $1.9 billion in 1986,
and will more than double
over the next five years. Accor-
ding to a new 177-page study
by market research firm Inter-
national Resource Develop-
ment Inc., all major segments
of the market will show strong
growth, with particularly good
prospects for financial and
econometric databases. "Cor-
porate librarians are getting
big appetites — and fatter
budgets — for accessing
information online from ter-
minals and personal compu-
ters," comments Jean Buf-
fham of the IRD research staff.

Fewer Dropouts
Forecast

"There have been so many

entries and departures into
and out of this market over
the past ten years, but we're
seeing more caution now on
the part of vendors" says
Buffham, who sees "a little
sober and realistic approach"
by new aspiring database
vendors. The report traces
the development of particular
successful product combina-
tions of price, presentation
and detail, in both electronic
and pater-based publishing.
"It's obvious that print pub-
lishers have a clearer idea of
what they can sell, and at
what price than the electronic
publishers," Buffham points
out.

"Some database publishers
see CD-ROM as an oppor-
tunity, but more of them view
it as a threat to online re-

venues; what's more, they
don't know how they're going
to get usage-sensitive 'meter-
click' pricing from databases
distributed in CD-ROM form."

Little Impact on
Print

Despite the expected rapid
growth in electronic informa-
tion vending, relatively little
impact is seen on traditional
print-based publishing. "A few
specialized directories will fall
by the wayside, to be replaced
by electronic equivalents, but
we really don't see a devasta-
tion of the traditional news-
paper or yellow pages indus-
tries," says Buffham. She sees
consumer electronic newsser-
vices, such as those offered
by CompuServe of The Source

as 'more immediate than news-
papers, more than television,
but not threatening the posi-
tion of either one."

According to the IRD report,
pricing for home services has
often in the past been depen-
dent on advertiser-supported
services. It has become clear
that advertisers are not wil-
ling to support services that
do not have a sufficient num-
ber of users. So it is the
information and the packag-
ing of that information that is
crucial to the development of
electronic products geared
toward the home.

The price of services, inclu-
ding hardware, software and
peripherals will have to come
down in order for more home
users to take advantage of
services such as videotex.

30 Commodore Computing June 1987

ABACUS SOFTWARE products

from ADAMSOFT

CADPAK Eo

ForC-64orC-128

Version!

CADPAK is a superb tool for computer aided design and drawing. Using either the

keyboard or optional lightpenyou draw directly on the screen to create and edit pictures,

drawings, layouts and renderings— quickly, accurately, creatively. The new dimensioning

feature allows exact scaled output on your designs. Choose from the menu options and

draw on the screen atari exact location using ourAccL/Po/nf cursor positioning. Using the

two graphics screens, you can draw LINE'S, BOXes,

CIRCLES, ELLIPSESs; fill with solid colors or

patterns; freehand- DRAW; COPY sections of the

screen; ZOOM-in to do detailed design on a small

section of the screen, With CADPAK's improved

object editor, you can define and save furniture.

electronic circuitry or machinery as intricate as the

screen resolution permits. Hard copy to most dot

matrix printers. Perfect for all your design needs.

ForC-64 £24.95

For C-128 £34.95

Lightpen (optional) £12.95

•H: = = = as *

CHARTPAK

For C-64 or C-128

CHARTPAK lets you make professional quality cnarts fast— without any time-consuming
programming. Enter, edit, save and recall yourdata, then interactively build your pie, bar,
line chart or scatter graph. You specify scaling, labeling and positioning. CHARTPAK
instantly draws the chart in any of 8 different formats— you can change your format
immediately to draw another chart type. Other features inciude statistical routines for
average, standard deviation, least squares and forecasting. You can also use data from
spreadsheets such as Multiplan, Calc Result or Busicalc. CHARTPAK records yourfinal
results or. Commodore 1525 / MPS-801/1526, Epson, Gemini, Okidata (including
OKIMATE 10/color) or C Itoh Prowriter dot matrix printers.

C-64 version £24.95 C-128 version £34.95

The C-64 versions ^work at 320*200 resolution and the C-128 versions at 600*360
resolution. CHARTPAK screens can be read by CADPAK for further enhancement if
required.

COBOL

for the C-64 and C-

128

Now learn this universal

business language on

your Commodore 64 or

Commodore 128!

COBOL is the most widespread business programming language in use today. Now you can
run this easy-to-us, English-like language on your C-64 with the easy-to-learn COBOL System
package. The COBOL System features a syntax-checking editor, interpreter, compiler, and
a number of symbolic debugging aids: a crunch function to reduce the memory size of your
programs; a print on/print off feature, and much more. Includes sample programs to help you
learn as you go. as well as a complete 150-page manual.

Both versions on 1 disk £34.95

••SPECIAL OFFER THIS MONTH**:

free Machine Language Book or 5 blank disks or £5 discount off any Abacus book with every
Cadpack. Chartpak or Cobol package purchased directly from Adamsoft. Please state choice.
Offer ends 10th June. Alternatively if you purchase two or more software packages from this
advert you may deduct 10% from the total cost.

■C

Language
Compiler

(f'O'

\

)

SUPER C

Language Compilers
for C-64 or C-128

One of today's most popular languages, C is excellent as a development tool, produces 6502
machine code— and it's very easy to transport C programs from one computer to another. Our
compiler makes full use of this versatile language: it includes an editor, compiler, linker and
handbook. The powerful editor lets you create source programs containing 80 character lines,
and features horizontal scrolling. Your source program can beupto41Kin length, 53K in object
code. The linker lets you combine up to seven modules for later as a BASIC lookalike program.
This really is a Super package.

♦♦SPECIAL OFFER**

Both versions on 1 disk for only £34.95 limited stocks at this price

SUPER Pascal

Development System
for C-64 and C-128

'itp^hfygc

ml

LariuagtrcrCampitE

SUPER Pascal is a complete development system for Commodore 64 and 128 computers. It
implements the full Jensen & Wirth compiler plus extensions for graphics— and has a complete
source file editor, a full assembler, and a comprehensive utility package. Our powerful program
features high-precision 1 1-digit arithmetic: a very fast compiler; overlays; automatic loading of
editor and source program; exact error messages and localization during compilation;
complete statistics reporting; high speed DOS (3 times faster than the 1541's); free runtime
package, and much more.

The 128 version supports 40 or 80 column mode. FAST or SLOW speed. Extra commands.
RAM disk option, and 80 column hires graphics.

For C-64

For C-128

£34.95
£44.95

All software products are on disk.

Free postage on U.K. and overseas surface mail orders. Add £3 per item for airmail.
We stock the entire range of Abacus, software products and books. Send SAE for catalogue.

Generous dealer terms available. Access (not VISA) or Transcash orders accepted
^ __ (a/c 687944007). Add £1.50. Mail Order. Callers by appointment.

B*^ ADAMSOFT (Depl C), 18 Norwich Avenue, Rochdale, Lanes OL11 5JZ
B J Tel: 0706-524304 (anytime)

GEOS

... NEW REL

ttom

[■ i %

Berk
Softworks

SOFTWARE

GEOS v1.3

Latest version of GEOS

49.95

FONT PACK 1

20 New Fonts

23.50

DESK PACK 1

Calender Icon,
Editor, Graphics
Grabber
Blackjack

26.50

WRITER'S WORKSHOP

GeoWrite 2.0
GeoMerge
Text Grabber

37.50

GEOCALC

GEOS based
Spreadsheet

37.50

GEOFILE

GEOS based
Filing System

37.50

GEOS v1.3 UPDATE DISK

5.00

BOOKS

ABACUS

GEOS-lnside and Out

12.95

(+£1p&p)

MIDNITE PRESS

How to Make the
Most Out of GEOS

12.95

(+£1p&p)

All prices include VAT and Carriage

Available from your local dealer

or direct from:

FIRST ANALYTICAL LTD

DEPT CCI

JO BOROUGH HIGH ST,

LONDON SE1 IXF

Tel: 01-403 5493

Callers by appointment Only

iReriem,

More

High
i Page
Single

Print...
] Draft

|l |To

□ till)

Fron

Page 3

D

Shee

J y

Tractor Feed I

q

OK

Cancel |

Please choose source file:

On disk:

mm

Term Paper
Mailing List v
Form Letter
Apple Pie Recipe
Club Newsletter

Writer's Wkbe |

| Open |

Drive

Cancel

IEFTO CENTEBP ° lr ^ n rl " ' P ■*- iiicTifiraTinKi i tkir cnnrikir . ^ ^ g yjQ 2D

Please Select Option:

euj document

w:-:;:'>:-y::;:;:;:;;;:::;;;;-i::;-:;v:;; : :;-

Cr

gate] ne

■"■■t-mr?Mm

Open | existing document

Quit

to deskTop

They keep on coming. The marvellous
Geos range goes on increasing and
improving. We have already covered
such recent goodies as their new fonts
and deskpack. Now they have produced
what for me is even more exciting a
specialised writer's Geos. The first Geos
contained an excellent word processing
package — geoWrite but this new
package contains an updated and
improved version which is considerably
better.

It also contains geoMerge which is a
very acceptable mail merge facility.
There is also Text Grabber which lets
you add from other word processors.
And there is a facility that is not very
useful to most people — geoLaser a
printer support to use with the Apple
LaserWriter printer. Not many of us have
one of those for home use!
The enhancements for geoWrite include:
format each paragraph individually;
centre, right and full justification; single,
one and a half, and double spacing;
decimal tabs; move around a document
using cursor keys; selection of up to a
whole page of text; double clicking to
select a word; superscript and subscript;
print in high, draft or NLQ modes; print
part of a docu ment; headers and footers;
put the page number, time and/or date

into the header or footer; search ana
replace.

GeoWrite is really a very neat word-
processing system that like all Geos
facilities is icon and window-based.
This makes it exceptionally easy to use
and with the new enhancements a
highly effective system for anyone who
wants to use the 64 as a work tool. It is at
least as easy to use as any word-
processing package I have come across
and provides an ideal starting point for a
beginner as well as something that
could serve for the advanced user too.

GeoMerge

GeoMerge is a program that lets you
produce multiple copies of a document
such as a letter that you might send to
many people. Each copy however can
have different names on it and, of
course, also add resses or any other data
you wish.

Text Grabber is really to expand the
facilities offerd by geoWrite. With it, you
can take a file created on any other
Commodore word processor such as
Paperclip or Vizawrite, and convert it
into a geoWrite file. The formatting
directions from the original word-pro-
cessing package will be preserved when
the conversion is made to geoWrite. The

process of conversion is very clearly
explained in the excellent manual that
comes with the whole package.

The other facility on this package is
unlikely to benefit many 64 owners
outside the US. GeoLaser is a tool for
producing near professional quality
typesetting style text using the Apple
LaserWriter Printer. As the cost of this
printer runs into thousands of dollars or
pounds, it could be an expensive way of
getting your letters typed at home. In the
USA, Berkeley Softworks, the creators
of Geos, offer a laser printing service
accessible over Quantum Link — the US
communication system equivalent to
the Micronet or Compunet systems in
the UK, called videotex in other coun-
tries. Perhaps Berkeley or their local
agents in other countries will introduce
a similar system outside the US which
would be very useful indeed for people
who want really high class printing.

Overall this new package is an excel-
lent addition to the growing range Geos
offers. It is as easy to use as the previous
packages and will undoubtedly prove
equally as popular as this whole system
which is adding power to the 64 without
costing a great deal of cash.

A.M.

32 Commodore Computing June 1987

QUICKSHOTII

PLUS

DELUXE

JOYSTICK

OMPATIBLE
/ITH

Commodore C64,
1128, VIC20
Commodore C1 6+4

leeds joystick adaptor
variable at £2.95)

MORE GREAT
PRODUCTS

FROM

POSTRONIX

I.SEIKO!

PRINTERS

1.SEIKOSHA PRINTER
SP180VC £180.00

Dot Matrix Printer,
compatible with
Commodore Computer,
features:

Variety of character fonts
including near letter
quality and graphic
printing
Tractor feed
Reverse printing and
Italic mode

Attaches to the Serial
Port.

. COMMODORE
PRINTER MPS1 00 £250.00

Dot Matrix Printer, compatible
with Commodore and most
other Personal Computers.
Features:

• 1 00 Character per second

• Bi-Directional printing

• Platen Feed or Tractor Feed

• Serial or Parallel Interface

NOW YOUR 64 CAN

BE A SYNTHESISER

OF OUTSTANDING

CAPABILITIES WITH

THE COMPLETE

MUSIC EXPANSION

SYSTEM!

music expansion system for the cqMmooore 6=» a*»d tzs

*iiFi

if
in

iff mMiftdm

mmmmmm

FEATURES: FULL 5 OCTAVE
KEYBOARD SOUND
SAMPLER AND SOFTWARE
(CASSETTE) PLUS THESE
THREE FABULOUS
PLAY ALONG ALBUMS. THE
BEATLES (CASSETTE OR
DISK), POPULAR HITS
(CASSETTE OR DISK),
POPULAR CLASSICS
(CASSETTE OR DISK)

£75.00

+p&p

A TTENTION
ALL C64I128
OWNERS!

Full Colour Graphics Software
PLUS Mouse Controller

,l»0

MOUSE

& GRAPHICS SOFTWARE j§|§

\

£24 99 Cassette
£26-99 Disk + p&p

Xi\

7

Control your computer at the
touch of a button, instead of
using the keyboard. Using the

design and draw computer
pictures on your screertr-The
mouse can also operate as a

The Neos Mouse and Cheese

is a full colour graphic
operating system allowing
the user to draw and 'paint'
on screen by use of icons.
The user can select different
programs to draw, copy, reverse,
colour, fill and mirror image
plus many other graphic
capabilities

%*£-

included software enables you to joystick for use with games.

Contents may vary from those shown.

postronix

A Prcstwich Holdings pic Company
SEND YOUR ORDER TO

POSTRONIX LTD.
8 FARADAY COURT,
PARK FARM,
WELLINGBOROUGH,
N0RTHANTSNN83XY

REG NO:- 2019261

Please send me

CUSTOMS NO (IF KNOWN)

POS

reo

Of

OBPHONl

(W3S) 67771!

UHOWOlOBIUMCt

IF YOU DO NOT WISH
TO ORDER BUT WOULD
LIKE A FREE CATALOGUE,
FILL IN THIS COUPON
AND SEND TO ADDRESS
SHOWN

i ! 1 1

PLEASE DEBIT MY CREDIT CARD

SEE
NOTE

TOTAL

GOODS

POSTAGE &

PACKING

GRAND
TOTAL

SIGNATURE

1.25

OR

ENCLOSE CHEQUE/

POSTAL ORDER

FORE

CHEQUE PAYABLE

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

/Renews

C128 RAM Expansion

Module

One the strongest, yet often over-
looked feature of the Commodore
128 is the ability to expand the memory.
However, since the processor used in
the 128 is an 8-bit device, this means
that it can only directly address 64K or
see only one 64K memory block at a
time. The system will support up to 15
blocks or banks of 64K per bank which
means a maximum of 896K external
RAM that is indirectly addressable. This
technique of expanding the memory by
means of bank-switching was first seen
in the now obsolete B-series (or 700 ser-
ies as it was known outside the USA)
which used the much underrated 6509
processor. The next application was
probably closer to the majority of read-
ers of this magazine in the shape of the
PLUS/4. This machine used the 8501
processor and allowed bank-switching
of 32K blocks into the processor address
space.

Commodore have launched two ver-
sions of a RAM expansion module for
the 128 machine — the 1700 which con-
tains two banks of 64K adding a further
128K to the standard machine to give a
256K Commodore 128, or the 1750
module (reviewed here) which contains
eight banks of 64K which adds a further
51 2K RAM which turns the 128 into an
extremely usable 640K machine.

The package consists of the RAM
expansion module, two disks and a 24
page manual. The two disks contain a
new CP/M 3.0 system which recognise
theadditional RAM and support this asa
virtualor RAM disk. The disk is the latest
version to be released by Commodore
(6 Dec 1985) and also includes support
for a modem. The other disk contains
some programs written in BASIC 7.0
and provides some demonstrations of
the facilities in addition to a rather silly
RAM-Test program. I felt that this was a
pointless program because if it does
reveal a section of defective RAM, what
are you going to be able to do about it
since the program does not indicate
which particular RAM circuit is at fault?

The standard of Commodore docu-
mentation is definitely improving and
the manual is very good. Full technical
details of the RAM expansion are pro-
vided with address location and func-
tion of the controlling registers as well
as a detailed guide for new users in
either Commodore BASIC or CP/M 3.0
modes.

Upgrade to 51 2K

The RAM module is produced at Com-

modore's Braunschweig factory in West
Germany and unlike previous cartridges
from Commodore is held together by a
push-fit and access is quite simple —
perhaps they now realise that this
reviewer ALWAYS opens up any hard-
ware! The board itself is very heavily
shielded for RFI (Radio Frequency
Interference) purposes, presumably to
meet the FCC standards necessary in
the USA — a cynic would say that after
the debacle of getting the AMIGA
Sidecar unit through the FCC tests.
Commodore West Germany were tak-
ing no chances!

The RAM circuits themselves are
41256 units thus it should be possible
for purchasers of the 1 700 1 28K module
to upgrade to 51 2K after re-configuring
a jumper on the circuit board. Control-
ling the RAM circuits is done by a cus-
tomised DMA (direct memory access)
controller circuit — for the benefit of
those readers who are primarily inter-
ested in the hardware, the controller
indent number is 8726.

In use, the RAM module is very much
a mixed blessing. When used in BASIC
7.0 mode, that is employing the 8502
processor the various support calls as
fetch, stash, etc., seem very slow partic-
ularly in slow mode. One of the demon-
strations on the supplied disk attempts
to emulate the renowned AMIGA 'bounc-
ing ball' piece using BASIC 7.0 in 40-
column display mode and therefore
uses slow mode, is both frustrating and
an embarrassment in terms of the time it
takes to configure. 6502 assembly lan-
guage is the obvious answer if you
intend to use graphics with any level of
plausibility. Until some enterprising soft-
ware house brings out a toolkit utility
that allows BASIC programmers the
opportunity of high-resolution graphics
in 80 column mode (yes, this can be
done and the result in a resolution of 600
by 200 pixels are excellent), then there
are serious limitations in using the RAM
module with BASIC graphics. One area
in BASIC that seems to offer more
potential is that of sound, since some
very large pieces of music can be stored
in 512k. Another potential use could be
in the creation of a RAM disk.

CP/M Plus

The only immediate use I could make of
the RAM module was in CP/M mode.
The CP/M 3.0 (or CP/M PLUS as it is
sometimes called) supports bank-

switching allows the user to configure
the additional RAM a virtual disk. This
means that the operating system treats
the RAM as a disk drive — in this case
driveM: and it is in CP/M mode that the
benefits of the RAM module become
apparent. Using the 51 2K module allows
the user to place a completely full floppy
disk into the RAM disk and still have
room to spare, thus using an application
such asdBASE II is considerably accel-
erated. For example, the complete
dBASE II system disk can be copied into
the RAM disk thus freeing drive A: for
other purposes. The user should always
remember to recover any data from
RAM and save it to a floppy disk before
shutting down the system. However,
placing the system disk into RAM makes
life much more pleasant — I do exactly
the same thing on my AMIGA system.
Other disk-intensive CP/M applications
such as WORDSTAR and compilers can
make great use of this welcome facility.

Although the supplied manual pro-
vides the programming details of using
the RAM module from 6502 assembly
language, prospective CP/M program-
mers will need the CP/M programmers
Manual and system source code disk
before they can get anywhere. These
should be available from Commodore
and represent a very useful source of
information as well as being excellent
value for money.

In conclusion, the RAM modules for
the Commodore 128 do provide a plat-
form for some very useful applications,
particularly when used in a CP/M envir-
onment. However, until 6502-based
commerical software is made available
that takes advantage of the RAM
modules, then their use is somewhat
limited. The type of software I have in
mind here is SUPERSCRIPT which
would allow much longer documents to
be created orSUPERBASE which could
operate more efficiently. Maybe soft-
ware producers such as Precision Soft-
ware, JCL Software, Timeworks and
Viza Software will not be slow to exploit
the possibilities offered. I understand
that JCL Software Ltd. have some
assembly language that takes advantage
of these modules and interested pro-
grammers should contact this company
direct for further details. B.B.

Price: £99.99 (128k), £149.99 (512k)
Contact: Commodore Business Mach-
ines Ltd., Commodore House, Unit 4,
Switchback Rd, Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Tel: 0628 770088.

34 Commodore Computing June 1987

MICRONET'S

fc

4

S

&

&

AT LAST!

Plus/4's go

Now available for

64/128 please state

micro when ordering

On-Line

Micronet and Y2 Computing bring you the long awaited
communications package for your +4. You'll now be able to join the
thousand's of Commodore users already enjoying Micronet

COMMUNICATIONS

Electronic mail chatlines — real
time bulletin boards, swapshop —
classified ads, telex facility.

INFORMATION

Latest micronews, hardware/
software reviews, technical help
desk and Commodore Microbases.

MULTI-USER GAMES

Experience the magical world of
SHADES or pit your wits against
other star captains in STARNET.

THE OFFER

Modem 2000 - R.R.P £49.95

+4 Cartridge - R.R.P. £34.95

Comms software on tape or
disk -R.R.P. £15.00

User manual PLUS 1 years
subscription to Micronet and
Prestel — Residential £66
Business £112

Simply complete the coupon below and
send to: MICRONET, DURRANT HOUSE, 8
HERBAL HILL, LONDON EC1R 5EJ -
PHONE 01-278 3143

/?/?P.£165

OFFER PRICE
ONLY

£99

NAME

ADDRESS

PHONE NO

I enclose a cheque made payable
to Telemap Ltd for *£99 □ Residential

£145 □ Business

or please debit my D ACCESS □ VISA

Card No

*£99 Residential □ £145 □ Business Users

Signature

I require software on disc D cassette □

PLEASE ALLOW 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY. OFFER APPLIES UK ONLY

m

\j

TURTLE PRICES ARE THE ONES TO JUDGE THE COMPETITION BY

WE ARE SURE YOU WONT FIND LOWER PRICES AND FREE DELIVERY

FIRST CLASS SERVICE AT FIRST CLASS PRICES

AMIGA HARDWARE

Amiga A500 Keyboard only

Amiga A500 + A1010 Second 3.5in Drive

Amiga A500 + A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A500 + A1010 Second Drive + A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A1000 256k + Single Drive + A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A1000 256k + Dual Drives + A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A1000 512k + Single Drive + A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A1000 512k + Dual Drives = A1081 Colour Monitor

AMIGA PERIPHERALS

Amiga A1000 256k Ram Upgrade (Purchased with Computer)

Amiga A1000 256k Ram Upgrade (Purchased Separately)

Amiga A10T0 Second 3.5in 880k Disc Drive (A1000 or A500)

Amiga A1081 Colour Monitor

Amiga A501 Modulator (To Connect A500 to TV)

Amiga A502 512k-1040k Ram Upgrade

Citizen LSP-10 Epson/IBM Compatible. NLQ. Draft 120 CPS

MP165 Printer, Epson Compatible. NLQ. Draft 165 CPS

Branded 3.5in DSDD Discettes — LOW LOW PRICE —

RRP OUR PRICE

SPECIALS (Limited Stocks)

Commodore 64C Connoisseur Collection
Commodore 64C Computer
Commodore 1541 C New Disc Drive
Commodore 1541 Disc Drive

£573.85

£539.99

£803.85

£759.99

£918.85

£849.99

£1148.85

£1049.99

£1144.25

£979.99

£1374.25

£1179.99

£1258.10

£1049.99

£1488.10

£1249.99

£113.85

£69.99

£148.35

£123.99

£286.35

£249.99

£401 .35

£329.99

PHONE

PHONE

PHONE

PHONE

£316.25

£199.99

£259.95

£229.99

£29.95

£19.95

£249.95

£209.99

£199.95

£149.99

£199.95

£189.99

£199.95

£179.99

AMIGA 500/1000 SOFTWARE

A Mind Forever Voyaging

Adventure Construction Set

Archon

Archon II

Arena

Arctic Fox

Borrowed Time

Brataccus

Cutthroats.

Deep Space

Defender of the Crown

Hacker

Hacker II

Hitch Hikers Guide

Hollywood Hijinx

Jewels of Darkness

Kampfegruppe

Leader Board

Leaderboard Tournament

RRP I PRICE I AMIGA 500/1000 SOFTWARE

BEssm

£34.99

£27.99

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

£34.99

£27.99

£29.95

£23.95

Little Computer People

£34.95

£27.95

£29.95

£23.95

Marble Madness

£29.95

£23.95

£29.95

£23.95

Mech Brigade

£29.99

£23.99

£29.95

£23.95

Mindshadow

£24.95

£19.95

£29.95

£23.95

Moon Mist

£29.99

£23.99

£24.95

£19.95

Music Studio

£34.99

£27.99

£34.95

£29.95

One on One

£24.95

£19.95

£29.99

£23.99

Pawn

£24.95

£19.95

£34.95

£27.95

Portal

£34.99

£27.99

£45.95

£36.95

Seven Cities of Gold

£29.95

£23.95

£24.95

£19.95

Shanghai

£24.99

£19.99

£24.99

£19.99

Sky Fox

£29.95

£23.95

£29.99

£23.95

Super Huey

£19.99

£15.99

£29.99

£23.99

Tass Times

£24.99

£19.99

£19.95

£15.95

Temple of Apshai Trilogy

£24.99

£19.95

£29.99

£23.99

Trinity

£34.99

£27.99

£24.99

£19.99

Wizards Crown

£29.99

£23.99

£9.99

£8.01

All prices include VAT at 15% and delivery anywhere on the UK mainland

How to Order

Post: Send Cheques, P.O. or Visa/Access details to the address below.
Phone: Call 0476 60488 24 Hour Service with your Visa/Access details.

Turtlesoft Dept CCI5, 35 Brook Street Courtyard, Grantham, Lines NG31 6RY

Subject to availability, all items are despatched within 24 Hrs. E&OE.

\l/

SCREENVISION

TURNS YOUR MONITOR
INTO A COLOUR TV!

SCREENS MICROCOMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS LTD

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THE BEST PRDDUCT5 SELECTlOn FDR t>BQ

PERSPECTIVES

Processor of volumentric image figures that permit to obtain in high resolution
graphics, perspectives, isometrics, plan and elevation of any figure previously
defined, starting from its vertexes coordinates and the disposition of its edges.
It allows to enter any drawing (building, mechanical parts, design objects, etc..)
It is of great interest for architecture
students and professionals, engineer-
ing, design and also for didactic
applications in the geometry and
drawing field.

disk £ 23.95 tape £ 21.95

WMWCTIVAS V2 (CI Ohm. EtoO.**Tl»r'
>*«*e»cttv» Mmea: ISO. II. 30).

IG TESTER

EPROMS ERASER

£ 81.9S

Tests most TTL's (till 20 pins)
Software in diskette
Verifies and identifies TTL

**" ' i i " 'I

£ 47.9S

UV eraser

Completely erases up to 30 eproms in 3 minutes

EXPERIMENTER BOARD For user port connection £ 5.95

DISK DRIVE COOLER £ 18.95

EPROM PROGRAMMER EPROMER II

All eproms 2716 to 27256, EE proms, 27 CXXX
Selects, reads, verifies and copies
Switched to user port

No external power required 12, 5, 21 and 25 volts
Software in diskette

£ 71.95

EPROMS CARD

Works with 2732, 2764, 27128

Switch selectable.

4x8 K capacity

Connect programmed eproms through cartridge port

Programs will be loaded into computers

memory at a flash.

£ 15.95

OSCILLOSCOPE

Cheapest system for those 064/128 owners who wish to obtain a high quality oscilloscope.
Screen and printer output.
Software in diskette.

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

SCREEN

8x16 Unis

SCREEN CALIBRATION 0.1 0.2 0.5 1,0 2,0 5.0 10 20 50 uolt*/lln»

TIMEBASE

TRIGGER

MEASURES

PRINTERS

SOFTWARE

12,5 nS. /Mns - lOOOS./llns

Internal (lutomti c) or iKtirmil ninut I )

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WIN! WIN! WIN!

20 MARTECH'S C64 NEMESIS THE WARLOCK
T-SHIRTS AND 20 MARTECH'S NEMESIS THE
WARLOCK GAMES

1. What does Nemesis mean?

2. Where does the character
Nemesis the Warlock come from?

3. Name a previous smash hit game
by Martech

FIRST 20 CORRECT ANSWERS OUT OF THE COMP SACK,
GET A T-SHIRT AND A NEMESIS THE WARLOCK GAME

20 HEWSON C64 RANA RAMA T-SHIRTS AND
GAMES

1. What does the word Rana mean?

2. What rating did CCI give it?

3. Name a previous smash hit game
by Hewson.

FIRST 20 CORRECT ANSWERS OUT OF THE COMP SACK GET
A T-SHIRT AND A RANA RAMA GAME.

20 COPIES OF TYNESOFT'S C16 PHANTOM

1. What is another word for
Phantom?

2. What connection does the game
have with the US Airf orce?

3. Name another smash hit game
from Tynesoft

FIRST 20 CORRECT ANSWERS OUT OF THE COMP SACK GET
A PHANTOM GAME.

ALL ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD PLEASE TO CCI BY JULY 1 5th.

' Commodore Computing June 1987

/ReTtem?

Commodore 128 RAMDOS

The introduction of the Commodore
1700 and 1750 RAM Expansion MoSulSt" 1 "
provide an additional 128k and 512k
respectively of RAM for the Commodore
128. I made the comment about the
limited use of these. At the time of
writing the review the only direct appli-
cation for which I could utilise them was
as a RAM disk or virtual drive for CP/M.
In terms of native Commodore 128
mode there seenrfed'to be no alternative™"
other than programming an application
yourself. Obviously someone else deci-
ded that this was not a particularly
attractive idea and has come up with a
utility which makes use of the additional
RAM.

Systems Software Oxford Ltd., the
people who brought out PETSPEED,
Oxford-'PASCAt -and HAChfEff-b-ave^
considerable experience and knowledge
of Commodore 8-bit hardware and this
is their latest product. The package ^
consists of a protected disk in 1541
format and a 9 page manual. Using
RAMDOS will give the user a RAM disk
which give 52 free blocks with the 1700
128k RAM expansion module and no
less than 2048 free-blocks w-ittottie 1750—
512k module.

The copy protection used is the usual
one employed by -Systems Software-"-

Oxford and relies upon the software
randomly selecting a colour and prompt-
ing the user for the colour name which is
taken from a hand-held matrix card.

The most interesting command avail-
able is the ALLOCATION feature. This
allows the user to specify the bank into
which RAMDOS is to be loaded. This is
of particular importance to assembly
language programmers who need relo-
catable code! The metnod of operation
of RAMDOS is one of re-direction of
vectors. The OPEN, CLOSE, LOAD,
SAVE, GET and PUT commands are
redirected in high memory. Thus an
assembly language routine would em-
ploy the usual methods as those for a
physical device. This would be to set the
system variables for the current logical
"address aflc-'caTiori^BBraevice number
at location $BA, secondary address at
location $B9, length of the file's name at
$B7, the address of the named file at
$B3, the bank to which the file is located
at $C7 and finally the file name string
itself. The only remaining task is to jump
to the KERNEL OPEN routine at $FFC0,
carry out the job and call the CLOSE
rautine-at-$FFG3. "^ —

Another interesting feature of
RAMDOS is where the system has had a
warm reset^r wherTRAMDOS has for

one reason or another lost its links with
the operating system.

The command for copying a physical
disk file to the virtual disk requires the
file type to be appended, as shown in the
second example. The file types would
be p for a program file, s for a sequential
file and u for a user file. No the use of the
ampersand (&) to distinguish between
the different types of drive.

In use I found RAMDOS to work with
no problems. The only real problem
revolves around the availability of appli-
cations software to operate with
RAMDOS. At the time of writing there
are no spreadsheets, word processors
or databases that can utilise the virtual
disk drive which RAMDOS offers.

I mentioned the limitations of using
the RAM expansion for BASIC program-
ming in my review of the RAM expansion
modules — it is simply too slow,
particularly wherea graphics application
is used. This means that if you intend to
program purely in BASIC then RAMDOS
is probably a good idea since it is going
to use memory that otherwise would be
redundant.

C64

disk £36.95
tape £19.95

Full standard Pascal + extensions
Speed . . . Fast to compile, Fast to run
Resident compiler, works like a BASIC interpreter
.Full disk to disk compiler

oxford PASCAL

Graphics & sound extensions include

BOX. CIRCLE, COLOR, DRAW, VDU, GRAPHIC, LOCATE,
PAINT, SCALE. RCLR. ROOT. WINDOW, RGR. WIDTH,
RWINDOW. FILTER, SOUND, PLAY. TEMPO. VOL, ENVELOPE
FAST, SLOW, BANK. JOY, PEN, POT for the 128 and similar for
Jhe64 „._ _ ~_^_

CI 28 £44.95

Full Linker for separately compiled files

Compact Code

Powerful Editor, FIND. CHANGE etc

84 page tutorial/reference manual

Stand alone compiled programs

90 K free on the 128

More than 20,000 enthusiastic customers

worldwide!

'Well worth buying, on investment in your programming future" C.C.I. "I can wholeheartedly recommend it to Pascal novices and experts alike" Computing Weekly

PIETSPIEIED BASIC COMPILER I RAfflDOl CI28/I700/I750 £34.95

* UP TO 40 TIMES THE SPEED OF BASIC

* Compiles ALL BASIC commands * Extensions to BASIC
including all 128 commands * Long variable names option

* Compatible with machine code * Recommended by Commodore

* Makes large programs smaller * Program analysis utility included

* Users extensions to BASIC allowed on the CI 28

"Alwnys a good product— JEven better on the 1 28 " Comm odore Computing

Using PETSPEED couldn^t be simpler; just type in the name of your program, wait a
few minutes and then see your software run up to 40 times faster.

"SAVEs and LOADs almost instantly"

Your Commodore

RAMDOS is a full feature RAM based lightning fast disk operating system for the new
expansion RAM cartridges. RAMDOS is similar to RAM-DISK except that it uses only
expansion RAM.

* All disk commands supported

* DLOAD a 50 K program in 0.5 sec!
-r-*"-2048'b!ocks free on the 1750 cartridges

* Use all or part of the expansion RAM . . . your choice.

C64 £24.95 hock-podc CI 28 £39.95 C64 £34.95 O^mMm^

The ultimate utility pack for the 64 and 128

"Exceptionally Useful — An excellent extension package" Your Commodore

□ RAM-DISK
Imagine a disk drive like the 1541 or 1571 only many times faster. This is RAM-DISK.
Modelled on the AMIGA. RAM-DISK organises the RAM inside your 64 or 1 28 as a
„soft disk drive. Oncejoaded. RAM-DISK responds to all the usual di sk commands and '
behaves exactly like an intelligent floppy drive. The only di^fere"nc e Is that everything
happens at LIGHTNING SPEED. RAM-DISK is accessible from BASIC or machine code

TOOLKIT including FIND. CHANGE, DUMP MERGE, TYPE. INFO etc etc

COMPRESSOR - ^ -

Compresses programs down to their minimum size. Removes all. spaces and REMs and
packs up to 255 characters onto each line. Makes your code smaller and faster and
protects programs from unauthorised tampering. Q ^^ F -

o*ST

The complete BASIC programming environment packed

with sophisticated utilities
ANALYZER

* Flow cross reference reports * Data usage frequency report

* Data cross reference reports * Very detailed statistics report

* Redundant code eliminator (removes all unreachable code)

■** Header file geneator {changes your program to make it run faster)

* Output to screen, printer or disk
TOOLKIT including

FIND, CHANGE. DUMP, MERGE, TYPE, INFO. RENUMBER, DELETE etc

COMPRESSOR

Like the HACK-PACK compressor, reduces your programs to minimum size

OPTIMIZING BASIC COMPILER

Please rush me:— *^ "^^ C64 C128

PETSPEED D D

OXFORD PASCAL DISK D D

OXFORD PASCAL 64 CASSETTE D N/A

mOCTOCK — ' ' T ' - - □ — □-
OXFORD BASIC □ N/A

RAMDOS N/A D

LANGUAGE PACK D D

.DEXELOPER-'S PACK .^ - D _J3,_

S.S.O.L. I6B WORCESTER PLACE, OXFORD OXI 2JW Tel: (0865) 54195

I enclose cheque/postal order for

(prices include VAT and UK postage. For overseas orders please add £3.00).

NAME

ADDRESS.

. PHONE_

MAKE ALL CHEQUES PAYABLE TO S.S.O.L.

Allow 14 days for delivery, CCI

Chart Chatter

Practically all change this month with a new 64 chart topper Ocean's Arkanoid that has shot
to number one. Gunship has climbed a place and Bulldog's Feud has entered at number three
as the leading budget game. Hewson's Rana Rama looks a contender for top place.
Mastertronic's Storm has blown up to top the C16's. Winter Events is hanging in there still at
number two. Beau Jolly has a new entry at five. Tynesoft's European Games re-enters at six
while Gremlin's Future Knight climbs a place to eight and looks like rising higher.

C64

GAME TITLE

COMPANY

Price(£)

Ratine

1 Arkanoid

Ocean

t

8.95

Crisp

2 Gunship

Microprose

t

14.95

Mega

3 Feud

Bulldog

*

2.99

Mega

4 Elite 6 Pack

Elite

•

9.95

T.B.A.

5 Ollie and Lissa

Firebird

*

1.99

Iffy

6 Marble Madness

Ariolasoft

*

9.99

Mega

7 Indoor Sports

Advance

*

8.95

Mega

8 Bomb Jack 2

Elite

•

9.95

T.B.A.

9 Ranarama

Hewson

*

8.95

Crisp

10 5 Star Games Vol. 2

Beau-jolly

*

9.95

Mega

C16

1 Storm

Mastertronic

t

1.99

Iffy

J 2 Winter Events

Anco

1

7.95

Awesome

3 Molecule Man

Mastertronic

i

1.99

Crisp

4 Gun Law

Mastertronic

t

1.99

Crisp

5 CompHitslOVol3

Beau-jolly

*

9.95

Crisp

6 European Games

Tynesoft

•

7.95

Mega

7 Footballer of the Year

Gremlin Graphics

•

6.95

Crisp

8 Future Knight

Gremlin

*

6.95

T.B.A.

9 Power Ball

Mastertronic

1

1.99

Crisp

10 Kik Start

Mastertronic

•

1.99

Mega |

.+.NENINTRV Compiled by CCI from

leading distributors

40 Commodore Computing June 1987

Shockway Rider by
FTL

Shockway Rider is a knockout. It
picks up the theme of the danger
that lies in city streets and
challenges you to clean them up.
K you've seen any of the Death
Wish series of films you'll know
what to expect. Muggers and
thugs, knives and bricks, watch
your back or your head will roll.
Literally, that is in this ultra
playable game that will grab you
tighter than fear on a dark lonely
alley when a street gang comes
your way.

You've got to ride three moving
walkways as in some SF city of the
future. They go at different speeds
and you can jump from one to
another to avoid the menacing
gangs that roam this asphalt
Jungle. You are a tough Charles
Bronson lookalike and you have
go the "Pull Circle" —that is travel
the whole way around resisting
attacks and obstacles. There are
eight levels of moving walkways
which are neatly programmed to
include perspectives. You have to
get around a circuit in a certain
time. And you can get extra lives

eanus 1

for blowing away awkward
customers you come across —
including even eliminating
passers-by. You can collect bottles
and bricks to help you do it.
Travelling on a faster lane gives
you extra points and completing a
district gives you a bonus.

This is a fun game based on a
vicious and all too real theme.

It is a fortunately exaggerated
reflection of the violence on the
loose in cities around the world.
But so what? Most — no all —other
shoot 'em ups make you do just the
same except that it is space aliens
or some other permissible target
you aim to blast out of existence.

I suspect that if this game were
seen on TV, the Mrs Whitehouse
and other censor-type moaners
would go bananas about it and try
to get it forbidden. I think it is a
first rate game that demands a
high degree of skill and terrific
reflexes to keep youself safe and
on the move, it is the sort of game
you will come back to again and
again especially because each
time you play it, it will be different.

t«KT»ui

Sometimes you will find that you
can blast away the gangs, others
they'll get you with ease. The
music is as addictive as the game
— even Princess Krotoa liked it
though she wasn't too keen on the
decapitated heads bouncing
around!

By the way, watch out for those
innocent looking old ladies, turn
your back and they'll get you.
When you're really buzzing and
knocking out the muggers with
practised ease, there's bound to
be a moment when that thought
will creep into your mind. You
know, the one that Clint Eastwood
says, 'Come on, punk, make my
day."

Shockway Rider will make your
day and week and probably
month, too. Buy this, you'll love it.

Z.M.S.

42 Commodore Computing June 1987

RIDERS GO FULL CIRCLE

.*

SHOCKWAY RIDER

." SPECTRUM £7.95
AMSTRAD & COMMODORE £8.95

FASTER 'THAN -LIGHT ftl faster than light, carter follis group of companies.

SEDGLEY ROAD EAST, TIPTON, WEST MIDLANDS DY4 7UJ.Tel: 021 557 2981 (4 lines)

Follou; ^Stanleys exploration into the Sfrican jungle...

could you be the first to sag . . .

A little bit of history with a little bit of mystery as you relive the nightmarish trek of Stanley in
his search for the long lost missionary. Dr. Livingstone. But no African jungle was ever as
forbidding as the treacherous journey that lies in wait for you. Poison darts from the pygmies,
blood splattering pithammers in the diamond mines, spear throwing natives in the bush... even
the white men are hostile and would rather see you dead than alive. It's spine chilling action
every step of the way with a little adventure thrown in for good measure
- hidden gems, secret temples,??

And don't let the sea eagles get you!!

10th Frame — Access
(U.S. Gold)

Tenth Frame's reputation reached
us before the game. It had actually
been out quite a time in the U.SJL
before U.S. Gold brought it across
the Atlantic. Maybe they thought
that as bowling is not so popular
outside the States, it wouldn't take
off too well elsewhere. It is not often

that U.S. Gold are wrong but they
were in this case. Tenth Frame is a
game — or a Sports Simulation —
that everyone will like. It has got
that beautifully judged level of
attraction that could satisfy
everyone from kid to pro. And that
is precisely the range which it offers
kids, amateur, and professional.
And while the kids level is pretty
easy and still fun, the pro level is a
terribly infuriating challenge.

You can play with up to 8 players
and run for up to five games. You
choose between league or open
bowling and if you've chosen
league you can have up to four
players per team.

The kids level has been designed
so that even 4-8 year olds can play.
When you throw a ball at this level
the ball goes straight where the shot
is aimed. There aren't any real
elements of skill at the kids level
but is still good practice.

The Amateur level is really the
Beginners' level and the bowling is
affected by the speed you set and
the amount of 'hook' you put on the
ball. The Pro level is killer. You've
got to have dead accurate bowling
at this level and you've got to use
the speed/hook Indicator with your
joystick with enormous delicacy
and sharp reflexes or the ball just
wobbles into the gutter exactly the

it does in real life bowling. You
can also move the bowler and shift
direction of the ball minutely.

The whole graphic element is
emely well-done. It has real

smoothness and a very real look to
it. There is nothing jerky about the
man as he winds up and rolls the
ball down the alley. Access have to
be congratulated on a smart bit of
programming to get the action to
move so convincingly. There is not
much sound except a rather nice
rumbling crash when you knock
down the skittles — or pins I
suppose I should really call them.
It's especially satisfying when you
get the whole lot smashing in all
directions.

I dont think there is anybody who
has an interest in computer games
who would not enjoy this one. If s
fun and its is a challenge and you'll
want to come back to it again and
again to better your last score. I'd
be very surprised if anyone got to
score perfect game — 300 —
without months' of highly enjoyable
trying. By the way, I used an
American version on disk that had
a neat little protection that
fitted into the cassette port. It was
easy to use but dont lose it, in the
States it cost ten dollars to replace!
That's about as much as the game
costs in the U.K.!

Z.M.S.

&iC0;

£9.99

«Ki**»*

^4f«

«P«r

Commodore Computing June 1987 45

C64

#

Cholo — Firebird

Rumour has it that Firebird have 3
new labels: the 'Of course it's not
late' (CHOLO), the 'OK, ifs late'
(DARK SCEPTRE), and the 'I'd rather
not talk about if (STAR TREK).
Fortunately Cholo's a mere 6
months late and it is rather good.
Written by Solid Image, who did a
disappointing job on Commodore
Starglider' ifs a good deal more

i T • j 1 1 fin t Lrw» i iT» ■>! 1 1 «K< zT* 1 1 [zj il i i'M t \\ I T

more fun.

Vector graphics on the 64 have
always been a slow process —
remember rigor-mortis setting in on
Elite when more than one ship was
on screen? — and Cholo wisely
concentrates on gameplay rather
than complex shapes or lightning
speed. The landscape of the game
is huge, involving several
fascinating locations that far
exceed the variety of 'Mercenary 1
although the graphics themselves
are somewhat inferior. Cholo is an
adventurer's dream, but you'll need
a quick trigger-tinge to get
anywhere.

The game is set in a post-
holocaust world where mankind
has been sealed in a bunker for his
own safety. All he/you can see of
the outside world is through the
eyes of one of your droids, still
patrolling the surface. This droid is
Rizzo, a lightly armed rat-droid that
you use to scout the upper world for
clues as to how you can blow the lid
off your bunker. It soon becomes
clear that the other droids wish to
keep you imprisoned and will do
anything to prevent your escape.
Your key to survival is therefore to
regain control of other droids,
whose capabilities may be of use to
you; hackers can access computer

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terminals, doctors can fix damaged
droids, tanks are heavily armoured,
cameras are used for observation,
and scum droids. . . well, work it out
for yourself. There are also other
things' that the game calls droids
which you will have to learn how
to use if you are to survive.

To control a new droid you first
stun it by repeated shots, and then
collide with it thus forcing a
temporary override of its operating
system. You may now attempt a
guess at its password (quite logical
when you know how). Although
there is also a program of
passwords that you can access
using a hacker droid. Programs
what you have picked up may be
transferred between droids under
your control) but only by the same
direct transfer procedure. In play,
this gets to be quite a chore but it
keeps it hard for the purists, I
suppose.

Cholo is vast, complex and very
rewarding. For my money it beats
Mercenary out of sight, but it
doesn't have the immediate visual
charm and it is about a year later
than Novagen's masterpiece. For
lovers of that, buy this — for
everyone else, give it a try anyway.
Mind you, I'm not sure about the
price-tag — a touch of the
'Rainbirds' perhaps?

T.M.

*%£&*■» «*^n

\ Rati ngs.Ai B<SA

46 Commodore Computing June 1987

CASSETTES

at E1. 95 each

Twin Kingdom Valley, Jumpman, Basildon
Bond, Lunar Outpost, Doughboy, Juice,
Chimera, Willow Pattern, Suicide Strike,
Thunderbirds. Supergran, Dummy Run,
The Real You by Collins, Spiderman/Hulk,
Dark Tower, Star Trooper. Quake Minus I,
Drelbs, Moebius, Imhotep, Outlaws,
Combat Leader.

Uil\l\hl

at E4.95 each

The Force, Thai Mig Alley Ace, Adventure
Quest, Kettle By Alligata, Lords of Time,
Evil Crown, System 15000 (Sec. Ed),
Robotllow 2084 (cart), Sigma 7 (disc).

at E2.95 each

One on One, Match Fishing, Staff of
Karnath, Touch Type, Arc Pandora, Grog's
Revenge. Potty Pigeon, Skooldaze, Crazy
Comets, Monty Mole. Zaxxon, Kong Strikes
Back, Tapper. Bombo, Who Dares Wins II,
Gyroscope, Fighting Warrior, Flak,
Molocross, Jet Set Willy, Monty on the Run,
Starion, Rock 'n' Wrestle. Mugsy's Revenge,
David and Midnight Majic, Zorro, BC's
Quest tor Tires. Manic Miner, Spellunker,
Journey. Eddie Kidd, Geoff Capes
Strongman. Frak, Ghost Chaser,
Blackwytch, Pitstop, Mermaid Madness,
Questprobe Adventure, Adrian Mole (book
+ tape).

at E5.95 each

Winter Games, Superbowl, America Cup,
Dragons Lair, Q-Bert Cartridge. Xevious,
Crystal Castles. Kaylel, Boulderdash
Construction.

at £6.95 each

Golf Construction Set, Touch Down
Football.

at £3.95 each

Dragonskulle, Fight Nite. Tigers in the
Snow. Knights of the Desert, Law of the
West, Congo Bongo, Wizardry, Moon
Cresta, Space Shuttle, Critical Mass,
Amazon Women. Ball Blazer, Red Arrows,
Macadam Bumper, Thing on a Spring,
Zoids. Bounder. William Wobbler, Redhawk,
Paradroid, Combat Lynx, World Series
Baseball, Hampstead, Time Tunnel, Pinball
Wizard, Bounces, Adventureiand/Secret
Mission, Pirate Adventure/Voodoo Castle.
Biggies, Surfchamp, Chuckie Egg II, Elektra
Guide, Bull Dog, Highway Encounter,
Johny Reb II, Devs ex Machine, Little
Computer People, Tai Boxing. Jet Set Willy
II. Forest of Doom — Book and Tape,
Sigma Seven, Yabadabado, Donkey Kong
(cart), Football Manager.

at £8.95 each

Scrabble, Cluedo & Monopoly.

COMMODORE
64 DISCS

at £3.95 each

Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Starcross, Deadline,
Suspended, Railboss, Superman, Arcade
Ext 5 Games. Monty on the Run, Galactic
Controller, High Flyer, Number Builde/
Puzzler/Chaser.

at £4.95 each

Logo, Ultima III, Chimera/Willow Pattern,
Redhawk, Fighting Warrior, Master of
Lamps, Decathlon, Red Arrows, River Raid,
Rescue on Fractalus, Park Patrol. Pitfall.
Pitfall II, Thing on a Spring, Pastfinder.
William Wobbler, Web Dimension,
Beamrider, Tracer Sanction, Designer's
Pencil, Ballblazer, Ghostbusters, Starion,
Sold A Million. Critical Mass/Combat Lynx.

at £7.95 each

Murder by the Dozen (RRP £24.95).

COMMODORE 64 COMPILATION

DISC OF SIX PROGRAMMES

INC.cE7.95

DiSC 1 : Turbo 64, Derby Day, Pilot 64.
Handy Cap Golt, World Cup, Test Match.

DiSC 2: View to Kill. Friday 13th, Code
Name, Mat II, The Pyramid, Test Match,
Beaky & Egg Snatcher.

BARGAINS FROM
1st PUBLISHING

S BOOKS FOR JUST £9.95 + £2.50 p&p
Normal RRP over £50.00
BARGAINS FROM THE FOLLOWING
£6.95 EACH.

First Word, Word Prop, First Base, Basic 64,
Pascal Lang, Ads Training Course.

C64 UTILITY DISKS
BY 1st SEPT
SOFTWARE

_ lnclude£1.00 P&P
Fassem m/c Cang assembler

RRP £14.95 — OUR PRICE £2.95

Easy File Disc

£4.95

Quick Data Drives (Phonemark 8500)

£14.95

Easy Spell Disc

£9-.95

Future Finance

£9.95

Assembler Tutor

£4.95

Programmers Utilities

£4.95

64 — Music Maker Keyboard

£5.00

64 — Prog. Reference Guides

£3.95

Macro Assembler Development

£4.95

Simon's Basic

£20.00

Simon's Basic Exp. (disc/cassette)

£4.95

Commodore Music Expansion System £79.95

+

£5 p&p

G-Base The Data Base Management
System

£7.99

One Step Utility Cartridge

£14.99

Home and Business Card File

£7.99

Personal Spreadsheet

£7.99

Master Word

£7.99

Family Tree

£7.99

UTILITIES &
PERIPHERALS

Neos Mouse RRP £69.95

OUR PRICE CASSETTE £24.95

OUR PRICE DISC £29.95

SPINNAKER
SOFTWARE

ALL AT £1.95 EACH.

Fraction Fever, Make A Face, Ranch, Story
Machine, Alpha Build, Dance Fantasy,
Alphabet Zoo, Logic Levels, Number
Tumblers, Sea Speller, Song Maker, All,
Aegean Voyage.

p&p 85p all orders
overseas £1.20 per tape

LOGIC SALES LTD

17 Leofric Square,

Peterborough, Cambs.

24 hour ordering on 0733 313870

With the price of quality games

ever rising only Cascade brings you this

outstanding offer on 3 great titles. No catches -

BUY ONE TITLE AT THE ADVERTISED PRICE AND
*MAKE ANOTHER SELECTION COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARCEI!

ACE.. .the air combat flight simulator. Zzap! 64 and
CCI Flight Simulator of the Year. Need we say more?
SKY RUNNER.. .'An excellent and entertaining
follow up to ACE' - Computer and Video Games.
You play the part of future drug buster.
DISK 50...An outstanding compilation of 50 -
yes 50 - games on one disk.

Also available CASSETTE 50.. .Same great value. Same great offer.
Insert the number you require in the boxes below to indicate the games of your choice.
Remember.. .Buy one cassette - get one cassette free. Buy one disk - get one disk free.
Buy two - get two free! ! ! !

ALL CASSETTE
GAMES

£9.95

ALL DISK
GAMES

£14.95

TITLE

DISK

CASS.

COMM.

SPECTRUM

AMSTRAD

PRICE

ACE

£

SKY RUNNER

•

£

DISK 50

*

•

£

CASSETTE 50

•

£

• INDICATES NOT AVAILABLE IN THIS FORMAT

TOTAL

£

NAMF

addrfss

. POSTCODE .

.COUNTRY.

Allow 28 days for delivery

I enclose a cheque/postal order for

[£ ] made payable to

Cascade Games Ltd.
or through any Post Office by
TRANSCASH (Giro No. 655 6655)
For even faster ordering when charging
to ACCESS, BARCLAYCARD, VISA,
AMERICAN EXPRESS or DINERS CLUB
use our 24 hour express order service
by telephoning 0423 504663 Be sure to
quote Ret CCI, or by post tick the
appropriate Credit/Charge Card and
enter number here

Cascade Games Ltd., Harrogate, HG1 5BG, England.

Leaderboard Executive
byU.S. Gold

"Graving your swing" is a golfing
expression that U.S. Gold and
Access, who wrote this software,
seem to have taken to heart.
Leaderboard was certainly one of
the entertainment software world's
successes of 1986. One magazine
has even claimed that it sold more
than any other in the year. Yes,
more than any game at all!
Personally I dont believe that. I
simply cant accept that a golf
simulation no matter how good
outpaced all the arcade shoot' em
ups and especially Mastertronic
mass sellers. But Leaderboard was
without an '86 chart smash.

U.S. Gold followed it up with a
sequel that let you play new courses
but for which you needed the
original Leaderboard. Now trying to
"groove the swing", in other words
following a winning drive with
another by using exactly the same
action, old U.S.G. have slipped the
white glove on the all important left
hand and blasted away down the
sport sim fairway again with
Leaderboard — Executive Edition.

Now as regular readers will know
that while CCI liked Leaderboard
and its sequel, we certainly
preferred Ariolasoft's Golf
Construction Set as a more original
contribution to the 18 hole torture of
frustration that is sometimes called
"That XXXXXX game!" And, though
Leaderboard — Executive Edition is
a good and fun game, it still, in our
humble opinion, doesn't get close
to beating G.C.S. Further, if you read
CCI May you would have seen a
lukewarm review of the Amiga
Leaderboard that now has to
contend with another Amiga golf
simulation Mean 18, reviewed in
this issue, that leaves it gasping in
the rough.

"Executive Edition" gives you two
new courses to play- You can take
novice, amatuer or pro levels and it

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JSaos ssl

PUTTF.B

j. y iijji^wjfthtf iflfti

will take up to four players at the
same time. There is a choice of 14
clubs The first two Leaderboard
levels are not affected by the wind
and are really pretty easy to
master. The Pro level is more
difficult but with some practice
doesnt make too many demands
on your skill. There is a very useful
set of instructions that makes
everything perfectly clear even for
someone who has never been on a
golf course. But if you have already
played Leaderboard and its
follow-up should you buy their
follow-up's follow up? Well, if you
are mad about trying another
course or two maybe, but personally
I feel that there has not been made
much effort to carrv the
Leaderboard theme forward, to
offer a greater cnaUenge, really
different graphics or techniques; to
find that magic ingredient which
would make it all seem brand new
and special. It feels a little tired as
a formula. You can hear that "It
worked the first time and the
second time, let* s give them another
basinful of the same thing."
echoing through it. It might sound
hard to ask for something new to be
done when the first Leaderboard
success is still only a year or so old,
but that's the world of sport lad, and
specially sports simulation on the
computer — ye , you're only as
good as your last shot — and I think
this one ended up somewhere in the
light rough. And by the way, dont
get stuck on the island at Hole 8
Course B, It looks like there's a bug
ther and you cant get any power
into your shot. We gave up after
dropping 32 shots into the water!
That XXXXXXX game!

48 Commodore Computing June 1987

The KONIX SPEEDKING packs more punch. g
That's why it's fast overtaking ordinary
joysticks to become one of the world's most
popular hand control. i

As it's name suggests it's built for fast
handling to give you lightening fast control.
Micro switches await your slightest movement,
and fly into action - ZAP, POW, SPLAT,
BLAM - giving you instant
reactions to every command.
Tough, rugged and
made in Britain
to the very

highest standards, the
KONIX SPEEDKING comes
with a twelve month guarantee.
Available for:- Spectrum and
Spectrum Plus, Commodore 64, 128
Vic20. AH Atari Computers, Electron, M.S.X.
Computers, Amstrad and Oric at £12.99.
Also:- BBC, Commodore CI 6, Plus 4, and
Dragon at £14.99.

Trade and export enquiries contact
Wayne or Sandra on 049525 5913.

Please send me.

. Speedkings at £12.99 each.
. Speedkings at £14.99 each

(Price includes postage and packing in the

U.K. Overseas orders please send £2.50 per

Speedking.)

Computer make and model .

I enclose a Cheque/Postal Order for .
made payable to KONIX.
Please charge my Access/Visa No. .

Card holders can telephone on 049525 5913.

Signature .

Name

Address

Postcode .

. Telephone .

Send to Konlx Computer Products, Unit 13, Sirhowy Hill Industrial
I Estate, Tredegar, Cwent NP2 4QZ. U.K.

C64

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lo

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P.O.D. — Mastertronic

POD! POD! POD! And more POD!
Mastetronic we love you. One day
when you die you will be
transported to game makers
heaven for having created and
released POD onto an unsuspecting
world for Just a measly £1.99. This
could easily be a full price game
and it would still be worth it. No
wonder our competition chief
picked it out last month before I
even got my eyes on it. I love it. As
Masterly Mastertronic say it has no
pretentious story line and no mega
reality to justify its existence. It's
just an out-and-out shoot 'em up that
is as exciting and addictive as any
game you'll buy this year. There are
25 levels to play — or rather to
survive — each more difficult that
the last and all of them needing
hair-trigger responses and your
total attention.

You play across an
interconnecting grid of wire along
which your POD moves. The aliens
which you have to shoot out of
existence generally come down on
you from the top. You blow them
away — if you are lucky! But when
you do that you cause some
damage to the grid and neither you
nor they can move across the

t l-i i M^\-l*i») it* a

later when It heals itself. Of course,
you are vulnerable while that
happens so you've got to watch that
you dont trap yourself in with the
aliens raining out of the sky! You
have at each level to stay alive for a
certain time and each time you
finish a level you get a much
needed extra life. In Gauntlet style
there is a dual player option with

both players on screen
simultaneously and helping each
other. You pile up a joint score then

is terrific fun. Every fourth level
there is a bonus screen or a high

scoring level that gives you the
chance to increase your score.
Blowing up aliens gets you fired on
in response and at the higher levels
you'll get hunted across the grid.
Sometimes you will do better just
concentrating on staying alive than
shooting up the baddies and that is
difficult enough.

There is only one piece of advice
that is worth giving in POD. Keep
shooting. Keep shooting and then
keep on shooting some more!
Trailblazer and Kik Start were two
of most successful games of recent
times. They were both written by
Stuart Southern who wrote POD. I'm
going to send him the Skinner
Benefactor of the Human Race
(Shoot 'em up Class) Award. He —
and Mastertronic — deserve it for
POD which is the best value shoot

IL' T'f'llM-"J'l|:|'i:|..|.'.|i?

the sound Is quite good. All this for
£1.99. Amazing!

fSESS*"- W„

*»%%£&**

THTm nnns i m on/ ico row cu/ipq
lulnLdriLrrur ruble* Loliu i/ilu

FFRIPHERRL5JHEFIl1RLFR0l1TIER..0URniSSI0n..l0 8GLDLV
GO UHERE TIG OTHER UTILITIES RRVE GONE BEFORE

0FMY5U3G.JW£7r77HLSL^^

REPORT Oil FBmiGS

Action Replay Mk III is more powerful, more friendly and will back
up more programs than any competing utility by taking a 'Snapshot'
of the program in memory so it doesn't matter how it was loaded. . .
from disk or tape, at normal or turbo speeds. .. the results are the
same - Perfect!! Amazing!!!

STRRBRSEUPOFTTE

t Simple to use: just press the button and make a complete

backup:Tape to Tape, Tape to Disk, Disk to Disk, Disk to Tape.

-THE PROCESS IS AUTOMATIC-JUSTGIVE THE BACKUP

A NAME.
• All backups will reload at turbo speed independently of the

cartridge.

Dual speed tape turbo system. Programs can load up to 3 times

faster than commercial turbos - that's over 10 times normal

Commodore speed.

• Freeze the action then view the program with the monitor
feature. Add pokes for infinite lives etc. Then restart the game
or backup - ideal for customised versions of your games.

• Picture Save. Save any multi-colour. Hires screen to disk or
tape. Compatible with Blazing Paddles, Koala, Slideshow etc.

• Fully compatible with 1541, 1541C, 1570, 1571, and ehancer
or any CBM compatible data recorder.

• For C64, 64C, 128, 128D (in 64 mode).

• Unique Sprite Monitor. Freeze the Action and view all the
Sprites, watch the animations scroll across the screen. Save
Spritestodisk or tape. Customise yourgames by loading sprites
from one game to another -then restart the program or make

a backup. , ^- -

• Compatible with fast DOS and Turbo ROM systems.

• Backup process in turbo speed - faster than any rivals.

• Special compacting techniques. Each program is saved as a
single file.

• Transfers multistage tape programs to disk - more than any
other cartridge - even the extra stages are turbo load - a unique
feaWre.

• Sprite Killer! make yourself indestructible by disabling Sprite
collisions in games.

• Fast disk format. (20 sees).

• Built-in unstoppable reset button

PLUS Built In

cocti noncp

Action Replay III even has a built in disk fast loader
which speeds up loading 5 times. Uses no memory-
invisible to the system. You could pay £20 alone for
this feature.

*////*

MM

PERFORMANCE GUARANTEE

100% Success? Rival Claims? Who's Kidding Who?

Action Replay Mk III will backup any program which any other cartridge can backup-and

more! It also has an unmatchable range of features. Consider 'Freeze-Frame' for example, which

uses more disk space, saves at slower speed, has slower tape loader, has no built in disk fastloader,

no picture, Sprite or restart features and costs £10 more than Action Replay. So who's kidding who?

Buy Action Replay Mk ill . If you find that it does not live up to our claims return it within 7 days of receipt and

your money will be refunded.

« s A

'action replay enhancement disk

Extending Action Replays capabilities even further, this disk
contains a collection of tape and disk routines for a few newer
games which load subsequent parts in a non-standard way. All
the latest titles are catered for - more than any competing utility
and unlike other systems, ACTION REPLAY LOADS EXTRA
SECTIONS AT TURBO SPEED. Disk includes file copy, disk
backup and other useful utilities. Regular updates at low cost for
use with Action Replay only. Disk £7.95

GRAPHICS SLIDESHOW SOFTWARE

Cartridge based backup systems usually destroy loading
pictures- NOT WITH ACTION REPLAY. Multicolour pictures
from games, graphic packages and viewed singly or in
sequence with this sophisticated slideshow package.
Turboload throughout. Sixteen pictures per disk. Joystick or
keyboard control An interesting new use for your computer.
Disk £4.95.

USUALY

electronics

DESMPOH ON ALL ORDERS.
Send cheques/postal
orders to:

DATEL ELECTRONICS,
UNIT m DEWSBURY ROAD,
FENTON INDUSTRIAL
ESTATE. STOKE-ON-
TRENT. TEL: 0782 273815
TELEX: 367257 TELSER G.

SEE OUR DOUBLE PAGE ADVERTISEMENT ELSEWHERE IN THIS MAGAZINE FOR OUR FULL RANGE OF
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Auf Wiedersehen Monty
— Gremlin

Monty's back! Once again he's on
the run and this time he's trying to
buy an island where he can be safe
from extradition. Whether he
succeeds or not, this, (sob, sob!) is
his last adventure — (sob, sob, boo-
hoo!) and with tears in our eyes we
sob!) have to say good-bye to our
longtime, animal hero. (Gremlin
even sent us a tissue to wipe our
tears!)

But have no fear — Monty is going
out with a bang in this — his
greatest, yes, greatest adventure.
You will find yourself trekking
through mountains in the Pyrenees,
flying a plane to Paris, getting
electrocuted, walking on the ceiling
and doing many other quite
extraordinary things just to get
enough money to buy your para
island.

As you explore the first little
island — Gibraltar — which is only
one screen large, you will begin to
see some of the clever little touch
which this games incorporates; as
you walk down a slope you roll onto
your back — or just to catch you out
— you don't. On some platforms you
jump in it takes control of you and
starts spinning and bouncing you
higher and higher until you go into
the next screen or it runs out of
bounces. Sometimes you get a
bottle of wine, you start moving up a
rope, or running around, or you get
reverse joystick controls, i.e. right
equals left, and other times nothing
happens. This really helps you
muck up your routine!

island wnere, wnen you woik on —
three coconuts fall down from a
palm tree. On the screen next to it,
a creature slides onto the screen,
opens its eye, peers around and
then slides off the screen again.

Once you've cleared Spain of its
treasure, and climbed the icy
Pyrenees — dodging a snarling
tiger head on the way — you must
take to the air and fly to Paris.
When in flight, if you can keep
behind the planes in front of you
just on their tails you increase your
screen.

Then there is Grand Prix Racing
and selling the Mona Lisa! Give
yourself lots of time though. Your
next go will have you jumping out of
the way when you land your plan. It
is ami —

""l

Monty itself are
piaui grey, out really detailed am
you'll think "oh how cute" when yo
see him jump — reaching out with
his paws and stretching his body.
There is plenty of other colour and
the sprites of the meanies are
detailed and endearing. On one
screen, what looks like a little pixie
with an oversize cowboy hat takes a
pot shot at you with his gun instead
of feeling angry you just have
anothe go. If s that kind of game!

Now I've come to the best bit —
the sound. It is just incredible! The
tune is about six or seven minutes
long and all the way through I was
sitting their tapping my feet. The
music really makes the game and
helps drive you on, I love it! It's go'
to be the best music of the year so
far.

The whole game is great —

F graphics, sound and playability. It's
a long and extensive game but you
dont feel overwhelmed by it. Even
i you get killed ten times in the
place you DONT get
ited. (Well not always!)
If you don't get this last Monty
game and you're one of his many

ns you must be cracked. If you're a
not a fan give it a go anyway — you
wont be disappointed. This is really
awesome.

Save wear on your expansion port: 3 slot
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• A complete digitally recorded drum kit, i.e.
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cymbal etc. etc. N.B. these are real drum sounds -
not synthesized.

• Real time and step time sequences • Full editing
system. ■ 16 Alternative voices supplied free.

• 8 pre programmed rhythms to start you off.

• External sync facility. ■ Very simple to use.

• Line output to hi-fi amp Dr through TV with
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Enables you to construct your own drumkits
24 Drum sounds supplied on disk which you can
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Available on Disk only £4.99 post tree.

DIGITAL SOUND SAMPLING

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endlessly looped etc Truly prolessionai hardware incorporating

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A comiehensive software package including

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THE ULTIMATE DISK TOOLKIT FOR 1541/1540

Toolkit IV has, for some lime, been generally recognised as the I

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to obtain the rights came our way, we jumped at it. And what'sl

more, in keeping with our general pricing policy, we are offering it at less than

half the previous selling price. A disk toolkit is an absolute must for the serious

program hacker and TOOLKIT IV has more features than most for less:

DISK DOCTOR V2 - Read and wile any [rack
and sector including extra and renumbered tracks
Repair damaged sectors Look underneath read
errors.

HEADER/GAP EDITOR - Decodes and display:
ALL header information including ofl bytes and
ider gap: Rewrite the entire header and header
i: Renumber sectors^ Also edit any sector tail gap.

(

DISK LOOK - Son directory: Recover lost files.
Display file start/end addresses: Disassemble any
file program directly from the disk to SCREEN or
PRINTER including undocumented opcodes; Edit
Bam ; Much, much more.
FILE COMPACTOR - Can compact machine
code programs by upto 50%. Saves disk space
Compacied programs run as normal.

FAST DISK COPY - Copy an enure disk in
2 minutes ot less using single 1541
FAST FILE COPY - Selective file copy: Works
at upto 6 limes normal speed.

FORMATTER - 10 second format an enure disk
or formal any individual track or half track lo 4 1 :
Redefine any of 30 parameters to create or recreate
unique disk formats

ERROR EDIT - Quickly find and recreate all read
errors including extra and renumbered tracks at
sectors and half tracks from to 4 1 : even recreates
daia under ertors and allows you lo redefine any
necessary parameters.

i

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DISK DRIVE SPEED TEST. DISK ERASE, DISK DRIVE RAM MONITOR, DISK LOG. BASIC
COMPACTOR/UNCOMPACTOR, FILE MAKER + MUCH. MUCH MORE.

TOOLKIT IV is an absolute must for the serious disk hacker. It has all the routines tha the others have
plus all the ones they don't . . . there is no better product available at any price . . . available now
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ALL IN ONE ILLUSTRATOR/GRAPHICS PACKAGE.

IT'S

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Yes Blazing Paddles is one of America's top setting graphics packages.
Fully Icon/Menu driven, comes complete with the Datel LaserWriter -
A lightpen featuring the latest polymer fibre optic cable and sensor for pin
point accuracy of a calibre simply not possible with- conventional system ....
....But that's not ad - Blazing Paddles will also work with any standard
input device including Joysticks. Touch Tablets, Paddles, Mice, Trackball and
Professional Graphic Tablets

A SUPERB PACKAGE WITH ADVANCED FEATURES

□ Advanced Colour Mixing to create over 200 textured hues
] Painting with a range of brushes □ Air Brush D Ovals

Rectangles U Lines □ Rubberbanding D Text Mode
;_ Fill □ Single Dot Mode^L Freehand Draw

□ Shape Library □ Clear ._ Printer Dump

Hires Screens saved from Action Replay can be loaded

and edited etc (Disk)
PLUS A zoom feature for single Pixel editing while
viewing, the results at full scale. D Powerful cut and paste
facility, shapes can be picked up, moved around, repeated
and saved. □ Full Load and Save feature for pictures,
shapes and windows which are supplied.

M r» KM tht SefTwKe you gM «* yogr MouM/GnfhuUaTt n ■ bit •*•* Own you can buy Btent

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PADDLES
ILLUSTRATOR
IS FOR
EVERYONE!

Using the Lazerwriter
a child can use it as a
colouring book or a
computer artist can
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-X. COHMMOC MISMOtt

Tomahawk —
Digital Integration

When you buy Tomahawk, you get
among the excellent
documentation, the instructions for
the controls etc. They are not only
in English but also in German and
French. This multilanguage
approach is not surprising, for a
flight simulation of this quality
immediately commands an
audience wherever there are
computers on which it can be run.
There are, of course, already
helicopter simulations you can buy.
Micraprose's recent Gunship
springs to mind. But somehow the

noisy Chopper holds a magical
attraction for all of us who picture
ourselves as one of the lucky few
who fly these totally absorbing
"toys". And if you are one of us
dream chopper pilots then the odds
are that you will find Tomahawk
excellent fun.

You can choose from four option
levels — Trainee, Squadron Leader,
Instructor or Ace; Unless you've
really been practicing for months or
you've got the speed of light
reflexes my advice is, initially at
least, to stay away from Ace. I found
it extremely frustrating to discover
myself crashing the chopper all the
time at that level. However, the
others offer a more reachable and
extremely enjoyable challenge.

There are loads of features to look

out for in what Digital calls "3D real
world display". You have various
landing pads, of course, and such
things as buildings, electric pylons,
and mountains to avoid. And,
naturally there are the enemy
tanks, guns and helicopters to fight
against. You can go on Flying
Training or Combat Missions of
different kinds. In some you are
required to liberate certain sectors,
in others you may need to get to
grips with the whole enemy force
and free the complete map area- In
one mission, a strategic battle is
taking place for the whole battle
zone and your task is to support all
forces in their fighting along the
whole front line.

There are also other complicating
factors that can be Introduced such
as night flying, cloudy skies,
crosswinds and turbulence.
Tomahawk has over 7000 ground
features and you can perform
aerobattc manoeuvres — within, as
Digital Integration points out — the
limitations of real helicopters,
which means you can't fly upside
down underground as I apparently
tried to do a couple of times.
Another useful and well-developed

54 Commodore Computing June 1987

feature is air-to-air interception in
addition to the usual ground attack.

With this simulation you receive a
very instructive leaflet on real
helicopter air-to-air combat
techniques which is well worth
reading in its own right. It give a
fascinating view of the techniques
that are in use in the rare occasions
when helicopters battle against
each other as opposed to their
normal wartime role as ground
support.

Digital Integration are already
well known for other simulations
like the highly regarded Fighter
Pilot, still thought of as a classic of
its kind.

Tomahawk is a worthy successor
and there is no doubt that Digital
Integration have reached the same
standard with this one. For
simulation fans, a long time will
pass before another helicopter
simulation will be as interesting
and value for money as Tomahawk.
For what It is and at under ten
pounds for the cassette and a few
more for the disk, it has got to be
mega-rated value.

Z.M.S.

INSTRUMENT PANEL

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INSTRUMENT PANEL NOTATION

1 Collective lever

2 Torque % (a) Engine 1 (b) Engine 2

3 RPM % (a) Engine 1 (b) Rotor blades (c) Engine 2

4 Throttle indicator

5 TADS - Target Acquisition & Designation System

6 Fuel level

7 Pilot's Visual Display Unit

8'Speed. in knots (yellow - forwards, cyan -

backwards)
9 Altitude, in feet

10 Time to objective, hours & mins

1 1 Vertical speed indicator, VSI, feet per sec

12 Distance from objective, in feet or miles

13 Artificial Horizon

14 Roll symbol

15 Roll angle

16 Pitch angle

1 7 Sideslip (drift) indicator

18 Doppler

19 Navigation/Compass
Heading

20 Bearing

21 Track

22 Engines

23 Weapons

24 Nav computer

25 TADS

26 Score

27 30mm chain gun
ammo supply

28 Rockets

29 Hellfire Missiles

) Failure Status Panel

2R3?"

Commodore Computing June 1987 55

SpeclaJl Tm^bhM S^ouaJl

F. A. Cup 1987 —
Virgin

This is a new and improved version
of last years F A Cup Football. The
reviewer last year gave it the
thumbs down and was very
scathing indeed! Let's see if Virgin
have redeemed themselves.
This is a game for 1 to 8 players.
The object is to manage one of your
TEN teams — (I wonder what kind
of salary you get!!!) — to win the
Cup. There axe 124 teams from
which you choose your ten. Before
each match you must set through
the draw for that particular round
(BORING!). The computer takes
ages! For instance the first round
draw takes 2>/ 2 minutes! You have
control over your team in as much
as that your tactics can be to play
as an aggressive team, or a
defensive team or as a balanced
team.

As the round progress you are
given some managerial questions
to answer so giving an additional
"strength" factor. Morale is also a
factor which is effected by the
"newsflashes" that crop up before a
match.

The matches and their scores are
recorded minute by minute as they
progress — (Another real bore!) —
except that you can speed up the
clock rate so that a match takes
around 45 seconds. From round 5
onwards you can have the
opportunity to bring on a substitute
at % time. After that you can change
tactics during each % of a match.

I have given up completely with
this program. I was as "sick as a
parrot, David". There were 4 main
reasons.

1. If you choose all first division
teams you will win the cup with one
of your teams every time!

2. There are no animated
sequences such as you get with
Addictive's "Football Manager" or
arcade sequences like Macmlllan's
"World Cup Manager".

3. The sound and graphics were
mega-pathetic. I also though that
response to keyboard touch was
over sensitive as one wrong touch
still sent you on the next input
without giving you a chance to
correct your error.

4. This program is nowhere near
the standard we have all come to
expect in todays market place.

Price: £7.95

Value for money: NONE!

Don t be taken In!

Brian dough's
Football Fortunes —
CDS Software

Here we have a very different game
indeed. First you need at least two
players although as many as five
can play.

The program revolves around a
traditional "board type" game. You
have a counter which you move
around the board as and when
asked to do so by the computer. The
board supplied I found very difficult
to keep flat on the table. It comes
folded and about eight times — so
a little tip — glue It on to a board
and keep it flat.

At the beginning of the game you
choose to see who is to be the
computer operator and who is to be
the banker. You're then issued with
£200,000 and a squad of 13
players. These consist of five types
of players. Goalkeeper, defenders,
midfielders, attackers and utility
players. Each player has a star
rating from 1 to 5 depending upon
his skill. There are 112 player cards
from which you can choose the
equivalent star players. The
remainder of the cards go on the
board face down.

As with traditional board games
you move your counter around the
board according to the roll of the
die. The problem being that there
are different topics to land on some
are good and some can decimate
your team beyond recognition. This
is down to luck more than
judgement. They either help or
hinder your prospects as a
manager. New players come up for
auction and often you get the
chance to buy a 5 star utility player.
This really gets you gong with
hectic bidding as if for a Van Gogh
rather than a Van Den Hauwe. It's
easy to see how some players get a
rather inflated price tag put on
them.

The different topics you come
across are very varied and keep the
interest going. Football Fortunes
lets you make a move on the board
followed by a match and so on until
the end of a season. Sponsorship
gives you extra cash. A crisis in the
club leads you to sell your best
player and pay up fines imposed
upon you.

Buying and selling your players
in a shrewd manner gives the
squad extra strength so you can
beat the opposition in the next
match. There are the usual
selection problems that any
manager faces during a real
season. The second season in the
league allows you to play in
European matches — (that's more
than in real life!!). After each match
the computer works out the scores
and the revenue from the gate
money.

The player with the most points
and money wins at a
predetermined point. I believe this
program will set a trend and in the
future we will see many more such
games that take two people, a
traditional type board game and
integrate it with an all action shoot
'em up type arcade game to give a
more social appeal to computer
gaming. Such a game could
combine many subjects and be a
huge success. Jeff Minter think on!

"All in all I must say that I'm over
the moon David!!".

Price: £14.95 (c) £17.95 (d)

ONLY THE BRAVEST FLY....

•

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THE DEFINITIVE

HELICOPTER

SIMULATION

BY D.K.MARSHALL

TOMAHAWK - a stunningly
realistic flight simulation that
puts you in command of an
Apache Advanced Attack
helicopter. Flying low over a
spectacular 3D real world
display with over 7000 ground
features - TOMAHAWK puts
you in the hot seat.

Ground attack and air-to-air
interception is the challenge -
day or night in the thick of the
battlefield. Your combat mission
is to locate and destroy enemy
ground forces. It could be science
fiction - it isn't - the Apache is for
real.... the meanest, deadliest
combat helicopter ever.
You have the weapons, the
machine.... climb in and prepare
for take off!

^ ■ Spectacular 3D cockpit view
with over 7,000 ground features.

■ Authentic aerobatic
performance.

■ Ground attack and air-to-air
interception, with laser guided
missiles, rockets and 30 mm gun.

■ Doppler navigation and target
tracking.

■ Day/Night vision systems.

■ Cloudy, Crosswinds,
Turbulence.

■ Pilot ratings - Trainee to Ace.

■ Impressive sound effects.

■ Pilots Notes.

.«

ATARI Screen Res

SPECTRUM

TT Racer 48/1 28K □
Tomahawk 48/1 28KD

Fighter Pilot 48K □

Night Gunner 48K □
COMMODORE 64

Fighter Pilot □

Fighter Pilot Disk □

Tomahawk □

Tomahawk Disk □
ATARI

Fighter Pilot D

Fighter Pilot Disk □

Tomahawk D

£9.95
£9.95
£7.95
£6.95

£9.95
£14.95

£9.95
£14.95

£9.95

£12.95

£9.95

AMSTRAD CPC 464, 664, 6128

TT Racer

□

£9.95

TT Racer Disk

□

£14.95

Night Gunner

D

£7.95

Night Gunner Disk

□

£13.95

Tomahawk

U

£9.95

Tomahawk Disk

□

£14.95

Fighter Pilot

□

£8.95

Fighter Pilot Disk

□

£13.95

AMSTRAD PCW 8256/851 2

Tomahawk Disk

□

£19.95

VAT and p.&p. inclusive within UK
(overseas inc. 55p per cassette)

o

[ Access

Tele Sales
(0276) 684959

Please debit my Access/Visa card no.

Expiry date

Cheques made payable to Digital Integration Ltd
I enclose a cheque/P.O. for Total

Name

Please send to D|("^|TAI

INTEGRATION

Watchmoor Trade Centre,

— I — i Watchmoor Road,

— I — I Camberley, Surrey

GU15 3AJ

Trade and Export enquiries
welcome. Lifetime Guarantee.

Address_

Samurai Trilogy —
Gremlin

Gremlin have pulled together all
the different varieties of the Rung
Fu/Karate game genre oriental
fighting arts of which, the Samurai
are supposedly masters: Karate,
Kendo and Samurai Sword fighting.

The format of the game is very
similar to their previous karate
offering, Way of the Tiger. It's a
multi-load, and the first event is an
unarmed karate game; the second
involves the use of Kendo poles (the
equivalent of Pole fighting in Way
of the Tiger), and the third is a fully
fledged sword fight against other
masters.

Now dont yawn and turn the
page yet, this game isnt boring as
are the many other run-of-the-mill
games involving the martial arts.
You must prepare yourself by
meditating (very useful in real life
too, if you work for a mad
magazine!), you must also do
sparring, reflex training, breathing
exercises and many other things
before you are ready to meet your
fearsome opponents.

You start with karate and under
the advice of your mentor Chu Yu.
You must award yourself attack and
defence patterns, this determines
your hitting power and lets you

program various defence strategies
against different opponent. The
way you fight in karate is totally
different to any other game. It
reminded me of these karate films
you can get on video, where people
fight in the style of animals. The
style in which you are is mostly like
a snake, as you move along on your
toes, whipping your arms around
furiously.

The karate makes the whole
game work, and in my opinion is
the best event on the tape. It is
excellent. To get on to Kendo you
can either Kayo opponents outright
or win on points. You must, however,
get your Chu Yu's favour.

Kendo is played out in a small
room and it isn't worth going into
much details about it as it is the
most unexciting of the events.

Samurai is the penultimate event
and it takes some fighting to get
there. It is very good as you make
sweeping swings with your sword
and spin it around, and is the most
accomplished sword fighting game
IVe ever played.

While one could ask Gremlin,
"Why not put your efforts into
something different next time?"

All in all this is another excellent
game from Gremlin whose standard
of production continues to be
outstanding and value for money
second to none.

CK

58 Commodore Computing June 1987

Five Great Games For The Price Of One

1G !7 ffl T s ^

MMODORE 64/128

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£9-95 CASSETTE
£14-95 DISK

SPECTRUM

£995

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FIVE GREAT GAMES IN ONE GREAT PACK

COMMODORE 64/128

£9-95 CASSETTE
£14-95 DISK

Also available for BBC, ELECTRON AND C16/PLUS 4 Computers

(Titles may vary by System)

IBEAU-JOLLY,

The name behind the great games

Beau Jolly Ltd, 29A Bell Street Reiqate, Surrey RH2 7AD. (07372) 22003

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THE WARLOCK

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[Nemesis The Warlock
C64 — Martech

Nemesis the Warlock is a hero from |

2000 AD the best selling British
icomic, and is the latest in a long

line of games with characters from
fthe comic. I'm pleased to say this is |
[the best release so far and they
lhavent totally changed the
[storyline to adapt it to the game.

Nemesis is the leader of all alier
[in the galaxy — well — not the
[leader, a kind of hero, and he

lefends them from Torquemada, <
1, fascist human — who hates all
jialiens. Torquemada being the evil
[person he is has now attracted
[enough of Nemesis' personal
[attention to warrant an
[assasination attempt. You, as
[Nemesis, armed with sword, gun
[and physic fire balls enter
JTorquemada's domain and must
[hunt him down and face him one to
[one, in a confrontation from which
[there'll be only survivor.

Battle your way through screen
I after screen — killing a certain
I number on each before moving
I onto the next. Collect bullets strewn
Ion the floor, by bending down on
I exactly the right spot and picking
I them up. Aim your gun and fire,
I shoot the zombie that's Just
I exploded from that dead body. Oh
I no! You've run out of bullets. Use
I your sword! Three, two, one man
Itogo! He's too close for your sword;

><J><

WP%

use your fireball! There! Finished!
Now on to the next screen before
the hand squeezes your life force.

That's what this games about —
blood and guts, bodies exploding
to reveal zombies that drain your
energy quickly — a macabre hand
that holds your life force and slowly, |
as you lose energy, squeezes your
heart fill it bleeds away. This may
sound gruesome and sick but it
entirely fits with the comic strip in
character and style.

The graphics are excellent, with
Nemesis drawn with all his haughty,
arrogant proud bearing and he is
exactly as you'd have pictured him
if you've seen him in 2000 AD.

The music by Rob Hubbard, micro

maestro, also excellent. It is eerie

and atmospheric, but it doesnt play |

during the game which is a shame.

My only real criticism of this game

is its difficulty — we had trouble

getting off even the first screen for a |

while. It took us ages to move

further along, it must be one of the

most difficult ever. However, if you

relish a real challenge, you'll love

Nemesis the Warlock.

CK

£§8^***

Commodore Computing June 1987 61

Super Felix is "Fee-line". That means pay cash and he wonl

A Mess of

Potsdamage

Katie Veats, Commodore's
fabulously wealthy spokes-
person is strongly rumoured
to have found a new use for
her Amiga. The elegant
Katie's fascination for very
expensive jewels is well-
known to be second only to
movie star Liz Taylor. Sell-
able information has rea-
ched me that stories of the
major part of the Switzer-
land auction of the late
Duchess of Windsor's multi-
million pound jewellery

collection heading to Har-
vard College In the U.S. are
mistaken. It was Katie ('I
dont bother with cheques
under a million') Veats who
snapped up most of the
Windsor sparklers — the
"Harvard Story" was just a
front. (It always Is! Ed).
Katie connected her Amiga
to the auctioneers' close
circuit TV system and using
Genlock software from
Ariadne and DeluxePalnt
from Electronic Arts indi-
cated her million dollar
bids with neat little ikons
for the cash. Katie has
admitted to O.S.E. that she
laid out at least 10 million
florints (what the hell is a
orint anyway?) on that
little jewelled Windsor leo-
pard that had set her many
faceted heart a-flutter. She
promised him to wear it at
the next CBM press confer-
ence — no doubt to
announce the sixth CBM UK
boss in 2\? 2 years. And the
begemmed Katie has a
shrewd sense of history too.
When O.S.E. asked her
about Chris Kaday, the most
recent CBM UK supremo
who disappeared abruptly
one Monday morning, she
coolly answered "Who?".

Ah yes, le pauvre Chevalier
Kaday (R.I.P.) is now, as in
the Stalin show trials in the
thirties in Russia, an •Un-
person'. Then when some-
one offended Stalin, they
didnt just disappear but
were shown never to have
existed. History books were
reprinted without even their
names, as international
socialist — sorry socialite,
Katie is well aware. Oh
weU, Professor Lepski, my
globally famous linguistic
consultant reminded me
"Sic Transit Gloria Mundi"
which does not mean as I
thought 'Gloria (or even
Chris) was sick travelling
on Monday" but "At CBM
all change but everything
remains the same". (Are
you sure that's right? Ed).
Anyway, the Prof has put
me and everyone at CCI in
the doghouse (again? Ed).
Speaking from the profes-
sorial hideout in rural
Kricklevitch, the accusation
was hurled that we are a
bunch of louts — umlauts to
be precise. We mentioned
a game called "Moebius"
in the last CCI. The Prof
woke me at dawn last week
and shrieked down the
phone "You lot do not know
your umlauts from your

elbow! You need a couple of
dots on top!" I think Prof
Lepski was saying that it
should have been 5 not oe
in Moebius, sorry Mobius,
Those two dots, an "um-
laut" also seen with CBM's
logotype on the Bayem
Munich football team shirts
give everthing a proper
Cherman Aksent. Jawohl
mein fiihrer Prof ... anything
you say. In German,
nutufllch. Do you think the
Prof is going potty — or
Potsdam as they say in
Berlin? In the same conver-
sation Professor ("Linguists
do It with their tongues")
Lepski seemed to
want to take the name Alan
Sugar, of Amstrad notoriety.
I'm sure I heard "Me Sugar
Dumkopf" grunted down the
phone "and if s University
not King's College! Sch-
mock!" (I thought we weren't
going to use that word
again! Ed. — And who is
this Professor Lepski? I dont
understand this umlaut
business. It sounds foreign
to me and so should not be
mentioned in a decent
magazine! And what's it
got to do with sweet Katie
Veai's? umlauts! Get onto
something more respect-
able or you're fired!)

Danish Blues

CCI ad ace Major Billy
("Thatcher should have
nuked Garbidgoff when she
had him in the same room")
Brown came stomping up
to my basket in a fury (as
usual). He had phoned
Melbournatronic House's
marketing supremo Lady
Jane Denning to congratu-
late her on MH's unbroken
string of software successes
and her elevation to cele-
brity by appearing in this
column when she accused
him of being sexy. Major
Billy was rather pleased —
that hasnt happened for
the longest time. Unfortu-
nately the Major is rather
deaf from grenade explo-
sions in his cellar. It turned
out she'd said "Sextet". And
it wasn't him but me.
Apparently Ms Denning
thought the term "Chef
qualified as sexist. Now
innocent me thought "Chef
simply meant someone who
knew their onions in the hot
plate stakes, if you see

what I mean. From my read-
ing of the Danish magazine
where the description of
Miss Denning's talents
appeared it seemed Mrs
Denning's cooking abilities
were being lauded to the
leaden Swedish skies. Ifs
true my Norwegien is a bit
rusty these days but whose
isnt. So dont blame me,
Mistress Denning. This little
pussy (no relation) was
simply miaouing in praise,
blame the evil Scandina-
vians, Master Denning for
spreading such rumours.
So I will, just for your satis-
faction, totally unsexistly
announced to all that you
are a rotten cook and would
not recognise a tasty dish if
you stared at one in the
mirror. (We know that* s not
true, dont we but if that will
make you happy... Mr
Denning) (Dont you think,
dear reader, that software
folk are very odd? And
didnt you think it was a
pity that Lord Denning
retired from being a
judge?)

Wronging a
Wright

WeU, well, did Mr Right go
Wrong? Sir Andrew (Andy
Pandy) Wright last year left
Activision to join Thalamus
a company founded by
Newsfield, a publishing
company that is believed
to advertise in Dandy and
Beano in the hope that their
readers will mistake its
computer publications for
comics of a similar intel-
lectual level. Mr Right has
now returned to Activision
which recently announced
that it is to keep up its
position as world number
one by releasing some coin-
ops selling its old titles to
Firebird Silver. I can now
exclusively reveal however
that the true Activision
strategy is to form a Corps
Diplomatique to enter inter-
national arcade politics
with such titles as 'Big
Trouble in Little China',
written personally by the
famed Sino-Hampstead pro-
grammer and Chinese
leader Dung Show Perm.
This global coup was deli-
cately negotiated by Mr
Right who has now been
elevated to the rank of
"Ambassador". (I swear
O.S.E. has a business card
that says just that!). I under-
stand that His Excellency
Andy Pandy as the press
has been instructed to call
him will shortly be dicus-
sing with P.M. Margaret
(What no 3 millionth 64?')
Thatcher a new arcade
shoot 'em up called
"Nuclear War — and Howto
Cause It' for which Andy
Pandy is keen she should
write scenario. Thalamus
was originally called
Thanatos but they found
out through these humble
columns that it meant
'Death Wish' and they rea-
lised they already had
enough of that. The software
company has clearly been
a raving success — the
other founding boss, one
Gary Pencil, has also de-
parted and the whole
mega-operation is now tak-
ing shelter somewhat
sheepishly in the offices of
Incentive Software. The
name Thalamus, as I'm sure
you all realised, referred to
the Greek tragedy (or was it
comedy?) play acted by

62 Commodore Computing June 1987

nention you . . . (unless jcmtovt eise pws *ir mo*e If)

VISA

idiotic workmen in Shakes-
peare's "Mid Summemighf s
Dream'. His Excellency
Andy Pandy is not telling
how close a similarity his
recent Thalamusian experi-
ence bore to tRat part of
Shakespeare's play, or
whether his employers were
a tragedy or a comedy — at
least not to anybody who
will listen.

Pursuing the
Trival

You've got to admire
Domark, and their aristo-
cratic Spanish PR man
David 'Zapatos Blancos'
Carlos. Their restless intel-
lects are ever searching for
some new way of exciting
the Commodore Media.
They have now, I and the
rest of the world's press can
exclusively reveal, grabbed
the computer rights for the
latest James Bond master-
piece The Living Daylight'.
But the reason they con-
tinually capture my atten-
tion is the never ending
shower of different Trivial
Pursuits" that plops into my
basket. I have just had the
IBM PC version, the Genus
(whatever that may mean)
edition and now the Baby
Boomer edition, which has
nothing to do with babies, I
am relieved to say- This
was the most interesting of
all because they and may-
be you, might not have

noticed this is a Commo-
dore magazine yet they
sent me a version which
was for another computer
called Spectrum plus 2 that
I believe no-one really
thinks exists. I was intri-
gued to receive this Spec-
trum version. What did it
mean? And do you Know
something? When I tried it
on my trusty 64 — it did not
work. Not at all .Very impres-
sive. Damned clever these

Domark people,

Now was this, I wondered, a
subtle criticism of Commo-

dore for not calling the 64
— Plus Two? Was it a hint
that they wanted us to
change the name of the
magazine from CCI to
Trivial Pursuit? Was it some
machiavellian Hispanic
plot as a revenge for the
defeat of the Spanish
Armada which everyone
knows was mostly achieved
by Admiral Francis ("Pir-
ate") Drake and his ships of
64 guns? Until I find the
answer I have carefully
filed Trivial Pursuits Spec-
trum Plus 2 in the waste-

paper basket. Something
else is going to happen! I
am too wise an old pussy
not to realise that Domark
and Senor Carlos know
exactly what they are
doing all of the time. (As
my American pussy cousin
says) "I'm waiting for the
other shoe to drop" Which
country did the Spanish
Armada come from?' and
send your answer on a
postcard to P.O. BOX 007,
Domark Hall, Wimble Don,
Spain.

Oh quel cue t'as

I have just heard something
very moving about the Very
Reverend Anil Gupta, Lord
of the Anco Empire. While
on his recent visit to India
to advise Prime Minister
Rajiv Ghandi on spiritual
and Plus/4 matters, the Very
Reverend Gupta's hair sud-
denly turned pink and
green. As great stress can
make heads white over-
night, I understand so, in
India, intense holiness can
turn hair pink and green.
Isnt it wonderful in this
sinful computer world we
Inhabit that we have such
spirituality as the Very
Reverend Gupta's example
to follow? I hear he has
been asked by the conser-
vative politicians who run
the State of Kerala to
organise for them an inter-

national holy computer
festival in Calcutta to be
called, I believe, "Anco
Summer Events". They are
especially keen on inviting
a certain German athlete
called Fritz who is favourite
for the crown of "Kingsoft"
that goes to the supreme
champion rather like at
Krupps or is it Kruffs Dog-
show? I should warn any of
you however that although

Anco is paying the ex-
penses for the entire 5000
strong U.K. team even the
Class Snooker players, that,
as is the custom in these
"Summer Events", the losers,
if the Very Reverend Mr
Gupta gives the thumbs
down are thrown into the
Ganges — unless, of course,
their hair turns pink and
green overnight. Namaste.

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I have been repeatedly
asked for photos of CCI's
staff so when Palace Soft-
ware wanted some models
for their new Barbarian
Game, I invited them to use
some of CCI's attractive
people. From left to right,
Major Billy ("My skirt
doesnt seem to fit today")
Brown; Maria, Princess
Krotoa de Mose's social
secretary whom you may
sometimes see on Page 3,
and Anthony Mael, CCI's
Features Editor with the
editorial instrument for
cutting text. They have
given the 5 million floruits
(what Ote hell is a forint?)
that Palace paid for their
services to the "Save the
Barbarians" Fund. Please
send your contributions to
Buckingham Palace Soft-
ware, The Mall, London SW1

gam.

FOfl SENPM& Me Ttfg

&$r err & fomtf
UNrnwfHotmii sow*

MOPEAce'— EBT7BV
THiW 8&Af(r0NTHk"

ccn/&i of some aw^rt

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Express Raider —
Data East (U.S.Gold)

Express Raider will appeal to
everyone who can be said to be a
one-time or even still today arcade
player. It reproduces pretty
accurately the arcade game from
which it has been taken and it
provides a load of non-stop frenzied
action to keep you joystick bashing
until you have reached the gold
stacked up on the locomotive. All
you have to do is fight you way past
some western style bruisers who are
out to punch, kick and shoot you off
the top of a train. It has undoubted
addictive qualities for it will make
you clutch your joystick for many a
try as the attackers send you flying
head first off the train roof. There
are horse riding levels too in which
you have to be highly accurate and
sensitive with the joystick to control
the horse and shoot down the
baddies. Or are vou the baddie?

L !

**: %

HAK 1.

idjim i i m i»i iM ii ) *i' «i|

m-J&m

Stealing the casn is generally
thought to qualify for that! The
graphics are neat and if not
sensational at least acceptable as
the train scrolls left under you.
There is a time limit for you to get
past everyone — an a bomb splits
up the train if you dont.

You com get bonus points by
shooting passing birds carrying
bags of money (Not many fly
around my way these days!) or from
a sack of cash someone throws out
the window to you . . .There tunnels
and swinging signs to watch out for.
There are quite a few options and
levels to choose from and I'd say
that this will be a successful game
for Data East. Why East? I'd guess it
is because this game was
programmed in Hungary where,
ironically, because violent games
are officially frowned on, it is
almost certain that it wont be
avertable! Funny place this
computer world is, isn't it?

Z.M.S.

£C7*ato

Sound

■es

'ffCtisp

***

*<*yabwty

•ftjc©

£9.

++*

Arkanoid — Imagine

GBIB^

Arkanoid? The name isnt familiar
but the game certainly is. This is
Gremlin's Krakout! NO, sorry, of
course it is Breakout. No, not really,
it says on the box Arkanoid, so it
must be that. Whatever they call it
— and it has one of those stupid
stories that is supposed to make
you think you are up in space
rescuing something — whatever
they call it, it is really an arcade
conversion of longtime favourite
Breakout. And it is no worse for that.
It is extremely playable and it's got
a very llstenable sound track. It's
also very good to look at. There is
nothing very complicated about the
idea. You have to move from screen
to screen, getting rid of everything
in your way. You toss a ball from the
bottom up and, like Krakout, it
bounces around and knocks out
everything it hits. A few of the
squares you have to knock out will
take more than one hit to blow
away and some will give you extra
features like catching the ball and
a different route to the next screen.
You have also to watch out for some
nasties that will blow up your ball.

I like this kind of game. It is
totally mindless but is a real
challenge to your concentration
and speed of response. It also has
the addictive quality of the good
arcade money swallower — It will
bring you back again and again for
just one more try. It has a nice
option of being able to use a
mouse. You might as well get used
to that. The Amiga 500 will have us
all using one soon. And they are
much more fun than joysticks!

Z.M.S.

"(C) £14.

9o (D)

Shoot 'em Ups — Master
Games *utf^%

Master Games has produced a four-
game compilation of US Gold
games. The four games are: Super
Zaxxon, Dropzone, Blue Max 2001
and Fort Apocalypse. The first for
you to tackle is Super Zaxxon. It is a
copy of the old arcade favourite.
You are on a solo mission to

penetrate the innermost reaches of
the Super Zaxxon fortress. There are
many forms of enemy life out to
obstruct your mission. Your ultimate
task is to get to the ultimate weapon
of the fortress, the fire breathing
dragon. If you get to the dragon
and destroy him then you will go on
to the next level. The game scrolls
horizontally and you view the game
diagonally. The graphics are
reasonable. The sound is also so-so.
A game for the enthusiast.

Dropzone

In Dropzone, the year is 2085. There
has been a robot war that has
stunned the solar system. Only a
few people have survived. It has
been decided to try and move the
survivors to another star system. The
cruiser you are gonna use has to
have Ionian crystals to get its
power. These crystals are rare and
can only be found on the third
moon of Jupiter. If s a very good
version of defender. The graphics
are good and sound Is reasonable.
The best game on the tape.

Blue Max 2001

You are Max Chatsworth DC, a direct
descendant of the Max Chatsworth
of Blue Max fame. You are now
about to fight the most evil think the
world has ever seen. The Furxx have
captured the earth base Gamma IV.
You've jgotta stop the Furxx before
they capture earth Itself. Not the
best shoot 'em up I've ever played.

Fort Apocalypse

This game has the usual story line,
destroy or be destroyed. You must
rescue eight prisoners that are
missing and eventually destroy the
Apocalypse. The graphics are large
and chunky and nothing earth
shattering. All the games on this
tape are a bit dated and I find I got
bored very quickly. I want some
variety to life not repeats (sounds
like the BBC!). Overall here is a very
decent package for the shoot 'em
up lover and is really good value for
the price.

Commodore Computing June 1987

Three Up &
Dozens to Plav

With 3 different versions of the famous
Leaderboard now available across 7 systems
there are dozens of testing courses, hundreds
of challenging game variations, designed to
test your skill and judgement, designed to
integrate and complement each other and lead
you from one level of competence to the
highest possible plane of tension
and excitement. Leaderboard
is the individual challenge
with unknown
variations and tests
of your abilities.

AMAZINGLY REALISTIC 3D ANIMATED..

• ThlblslhEspcrl>iimulnilonortheve3r-lfnol(hedeadt: 1, 22APM

TOURNAMENT
LEADERBOARD

Four exciting new 18 hole golf
courses demanding more
concentration, more precision
if you're to stay out of trouble.
(To be played with original
Leaderboard).

LEADERBOARD

The exciting world of professional golf,
realistic 3-D animation, multiple 18 hole golf
courses and 3 levels of play from amateur to
touring professional.

This is the sports simulation of the year -
if not the decade! Zzap 64.

LEADERBOARD

EXECUTIVE

EDITION

From sports simulation of the year
progress to another dimension of
gameplay, another experience in
excitement and graphics as you
battle to master sandtraps, trees,
water hazards and

A game that's frightening in its

demand and realism, only the

mentally tough will survive these

encounters unscathed.

Spectrum

i- m m

Amstrad

CBM64/128

Atari

Atari ST

IBM

Amiga

LEADERBOARD

£ 9.95 c

£ 9.95 c

£ 9.95 c

£ 9.99 c

£14.95 d

£14.95 d

£14.99 d

£24.95 d

£24.99 d

£24.95 d

TOURNAMENT
LEADERBOARD

£ 4.99c

£ 4.99 c

£ 4.99 c

£ 4.99 c

£ 6.99 d

£ 6.99 d

£ 6.99 d

£ 9.99 d

EXECUTIVE
LEADERBOARD

£ 9.99 c

. ^ ~ F . r .

£14.99 d

UWSMM

Birmingham B6 7AX.
Tel: 021 356 3388.

Software incorporated

S.O.S. — Mastertronic

Mastertronic have now established
themselves as a popular software
house producing some good and
some bad software. I am afriad to
say that S.O.S. is not one of their
best. This looks so much like
Chimera by Firebird that I had to
check my data cassette to make
sure I had the right game in it!

You control a droid called
Blomech I (Sydney to his friends)
they keep telling me. Blomech I has
lost himself in a ruined city and
unless he finds his way back safely
the his inventor will turn him into a
ZX8 1 ! (A fate worse than death!).

Sydney must find a radio which
will lead him to safety. On this
planet there are several other not
very friendly robots who attack our
poor little Sydney. Items you may
find on your travels are coins,
lamps, tickets etc.

All in all a 3D maze/arcade
adventure which is so dated if s
unbelievable. The graphics are
clear and without a doubt the best
thing about this rather poor game.

Sound is limited and it is difficult
to control Blomech I (thaf s Sydney
in case you had forgotten) because
he rotates to quickly and I ended
up getting eaten when I wanted to
go left. Watch the screen as it gives
you helpful messages like 'You
have trodden on a mine"! Really

helpful eh?

JA

Sound: +
**w Hattn ff : ,

Elevator Action —
Quicksilva

You may have seen this game in
your local arcades and Bingo halls
recently. (Bingo halls? Ed).

It's called Elevator Action and
Quicksilva have snapped up the
copyright from Taito whose arcade
original it belongs to and have
released it.

The game revolves around a little
agent by the name of Otto who you
control. As Agent Otto your task is to
collect secret documents. Once you

have found these top secret papers
you must fend off your enemies and
hop into your getaway car which is
waiting patiently for you at the
bottom of the building.

The building is linked together by
escalators) As you may have
guessed the escalators play a big
part in the game. You defend
yourself with your trusty gun,
however if that fails you always
have your karate chops to fall back
on.

There are lights on each of the
floors which can be shot for extra
points also it gives you the
opportunity to have a kick at your
enemy.

The secret papers are hidden
behind one of the doors which are
opened quite easily by our tough
little agent.

One little hint do not attempt to
ride on the top of elevators as you
will get crushed — nasty!

Overall not a bad game, however
when the game first started I
thought my TV had shrunk because
the graphics were so small but as I
progressed down the building the
building got bigger. The scrolling is
average.

Colour hasnt been used to the
64's full capability and the same
can be said for the sound. Just spot
effects here and there plus bullet
sounds. I cant remember the last
decent game Quicksilva did. It's
time they got their act together and
brought out something to make us
jump.

MAfr

Return of the Space
Warrior — The Power
House __

Return of the Space Warrior has
somewhat of a misleading title as I
expected it to be a space shoot 'em
up and it turns out to be an arcade
action game based on the arcade
favourite 'Joust'.

The basic idea of Return of the
Space Warrior is to hit your
opponent from above Just by going
into him and then pouncing on him
again (sounds exciting eh?) You
have 3 lives and have various skill
levels to choose from. If you are
equal with another space monster
when you hit it then he wins and
you lose a life.

Mind that you dont fall in the
water because you can not float
and this results in you losing
another one of your valuable lives.

This is the kind of game that I like
to play when I've got half an hour or
so to spare because it only takes
literally seconds to load. Okay so
the graphics are a little chunky and
the sound isnt up to much but it
makes a change from your average
agame. Also an added bonus is a
free audio track by H.E.X., no I
hadntheard of them either ... for
the price it is very fair value.

Graphics: *
Sound: +
HayabUity. +++

CCIRaun

'ff- CRISP

Cyborg — CRL

Cyborg? Cyborg? Haven't I heard
that name somewhere before? Yes,
indeedy you have. From this very
same old Cyborg. What do I mean
by that? Well, Cyborg is one of those
games that is talked about for a
long time before it actually comes
out. You hear about games like this
— sometimes in hushed tones and
sometimes with impatience. You
know like Knight Rider. The pre-
publishing story Just goes on and
on until you are almost tired of the
game byt the time it reaches the
shops. Now I know thaf s unfair and
its really not always the fault of the
software house. You can bet that
fhey want to get it out on the street.

C16/+4

£9.95

SUMMER EVENTS
by UDO GERTZ

UDO GERTZ, voted programmer
of *e Year for his chart topper
WINTER EVENTS, has once
again excelled himself.
The opening ceremony signals

ZmSS^ supremacy in six
^ts -Swimming Cyc»mgH,gh

Board Diving, Kyak.ng, Steeple

Chase and Pole Vault.

One to four layers -can Practice

^represent. The Medal Cere-
mony at the end of each e ent
music, superb graph.cs fur her
enhanced by expanded screen

,„ game play set a new standard
* i C16 and Plus 4 games.

ANCt* SOJ
WEST HILL, I
INT. DAI

^MASLOr

/ CONTINUBP FROMPME W

They are not holding it up just to
spite you! You can bet your bottom
dollar on that. But something
beyond their control is holding
them up. In the case of Knight
Rider, it was suppoed to have gone
to four different versions before
Ocean finally gave up and, in
desperation put out what they had,
which was probably a mistake after
such a wait you expect something
terrific. It was not terrific. No and
neither is Cyborg. Not but but not
terrific.

The year is 2087 and — to cut a
long story very short — you've got to
stop an asteroid from crashing into
the earth and causing (yawn)
widespread death and destruction.
Nasty things like that always seem
to happen computer games, don't
they? You have to ferry fuel and
supplies to the astronauts on the
asteroid and restore
communications.

Now this game is very well
worked out. You move up and down
on various levels of the asteroid and
through different 'rooms'. It has
some very nice touches by which
you can get into a "Character filing"
system for information. You can
examine objects you find and there
is a useful scanner that lets you
take a closer look at the immediate
area from above. You have to shoot
up the baddies you meet on your
way and you can re-load your
weapons when they run low.

The graphics are very well done
— CRL always seem to be able to
create very visually successful
games. And the different tasks you
have to complete certainly give the
game interest but somehow it just
did not excite me. Who knows, I
may be alone in feeling this but it
just seemed to lack that special
magic that drags me back to the
screen again and again. If s a pity
because it looks very good.

Z.M.S.

Price: £8.
Sound.-

fcs:

95 {

Payability:
c ClKann&

****'

\QlUfy

Death or Glory — CRL

Across the immeasurable void of space,
an incredible fleet approaches the
peaceful island planet of New Stratford.
Just a speck on the civil radar system, a
simple spacedozer ship was sent
tosurvey the conundrum. With horror,
the pilot of the asteroid demolition
craft saw the radar speck become a
huge invasion fleet. Then like a storm of
meteors they were on him. Android
fighters peppering his collision armour
with a shower of missiles. Automatically
he ploughed into them, crushing their
super-structures like insect's thin shells.
He cried out in fury and plummeted
into a mothership, which ruptured into
a blaze of dazzling plasma. "Death or
Glory" he screamed triumphantly as his
craft tore into the fleet.

Now I hate inlays that talk that sort
of rubbish. There are too many
games that are sold on a hyped up
story of some amazing space
exploits that come straight out of a
space comic or an SF cowboy story.
"Space the ultimate frontier" — they
waffle — like this one and they turn
out to be a load of old codswallop
as a game; Something that no self-
respecting shoot 'em up fan would
bother twice with.

Now having got that off my chest.
I will tell you that this Death or
Glory isnt half bad. If they'd only
given a bit more attention at CRL to
the game instead of writing the
Unlay tosh then it would have been
very good indeed.

You've got a sharp little craft and
you belt across space blowing away
nicely drawn scrolling blocks and
some speedily attacking alien
ships. The background to your
movement is not very convincing
but the blast away action — which
is what this game is all about — is
pretty good fun. There is an odd
difference between the sharply
depicted enemy fleet and the
disappointing primitiveness of your
own ship that, I've got to admit,
doesnt matter once you're into the
fast and furious action.

If s not a difficult game to play.
You'll find that you can get some
high scores without it being too
demanding but there is something
addictive about it. If s not going to
be one of the games of the year but
a lot of people are going to like it a
lot. It's certainly worth giving it a try
(in spite of the gush on the inlay!)

Z.M.S.

The Equalizer —
The Power House

CBISB

The Power House who are releasing
rifles for the princely sum of £1.99
have improved the quality with this
one. No, if s not about some
vigilante blasting away with his
"Equalizer". In fact it is totally
different from that. You are back in
Paleolithic times — the stone age to
you. You have to rescue your girl
friend and climb up the Darwinian
evolutionary timescale to get to her.
It isnt easy. There are lots of
nasties out there, even things like
prehistoric snails and lizards want
to gobble you up and of course, as
was natural, as time passes so the
organisms get more complicted
and you have to compete for your
existence with animals and birds.
You get fruit that when picked
moves you along a level. There are
18 different side to side scrolls and
you also have quite a few other
natural hazards to avoid along the
way to your evolutionary destiny.

By no means a bad game this. It's
got some nice graphic touches and
a not too disagreeable soundtrack.
For £1.99 it is something out of the
ordinary and must be excellent
value. Buy it.

CCZ Rating: Crisp
Personal rating: 6
Value tor money: 8

C16/PUJS4 *

Music Makers M £ *^

Joysticks - Interfaces

Books - Games - Leads - Ram Packs - Utilities

Budget Games - Flight and Sports Simulations

Text and Graphic Adventures - Data Bases

Paint Programs - Graphic Designers - Spread Sheets

Word Processers - Peripherals - Power Packs

Disc Drives - Printers
Anything and everything for C 16 or PLUS 4

Send S A:E. for the new 12 page catalogue.

HOTLINE: 0322 522631
(24 hour service)

C16/PLUS 4 Centre, Anco Marketing Ltd.

4 West Gate House, Spital Street,

Dartford, Kent DAI 2EH. Tel: 0322 92513-18

WORLDWIDE
♦ software ♦ '

C64/128 cass disk

Ace of Aces 7.25 1 1 .20

Auf Wiedersehen Monty .... 7.25 1 1 .20

Aerojet 7.25 1 1 .20

Brian Clough Football 11.20 13.45

Championship Wrestling ...7.25 11.20

Colossus Chess 4 7.25 11.20

Conflict in Vietnam 11.20 14.95

Delta 7.25 11.20

Decision in Desert 11.20 14.95

Dragons Lair II 7.25 10.45

Elite 11.20 14.95

F15 Strike Eagle 7.25 11.20

Field of Fire 7.25 11.20

Fist II 7.25 11.20

Gauntlet 7.25 11.20

Gunship 11.20 14.95

Hell Cat Ace 7.25 11.20

IndoorSports 6.55 11.20

Inspector Gadget 7.25 11.20

Into the Eagles Nest 6.55 10.45

Jewels of Darkness 11.20 11.20

Kayleth 7.25 11.20

Krakout 7.25 11.20

Leaderboard Exec 7.25 11.20

Marble Madness 7.25 11.20

Mig Alley Ace 7.25 11.20

Mini Office II 12.75 14.95

Nato Commander 7.25 11.20

Paradroid/Uridium 6.55 11.20

Scrabble 9.75 11.20

Silent Service 7.25 11.20

Silicon Dreams 11.20 11.20

Solo Flight 7.25 11.20

Spitfire Ace 7.25 11.20

Star Games One 7.25 11.20

Strike Force Harrier 7.25 11.20

Triv Pursuit (2nd edit) 11.20 14.95

Vera Cruz Affair 7.25 11.20

Vietnam 7.25 11.20

World Games 7.25 11.20

C64/128 disk only

Alter Ego (M or F) 19.95

Alternate Reality I or II 14.95

Borrowed Time 11.20

Destroyer 11.20

Enchanter 19.95

Expert Cartridge + ESM 34.50

Heart of Africa 11.20

Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy 19.95

Holywood Hi Jinx 19.95

Kampfgruppe 24.95

Leather Goddess (Adults only) ....19.95

Mind Forever Voyaging (128) 28.95

Moonmist 19.95

The Pawn 14.95

Phantasie II 14.95

Planetfall 19.95

Portal 14.95

Shard of Spring 14.95

Swift Spreadsheet (128) 19.95

Subbattle Simulator 1 1.20

Spellbreaker 19.95

Suspect 19.95

Suspended 19.95

Tass Times in Tonetown 11.20

Trinity (128/80 col) 28.95

Toyshop 39.95

USAAF 23.95

Wishbringer 19.95

Witness 19.95

10 Blank 5'/ 4 " disk with labels 7.99

AMIGA

Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy 24.95

Holywood Hi Jinx 19.95

Leather Goddess (Adults only) ....24.95

Silent Service 19.95

World Games 19.95

C64/128 +4 PRINTER OFFER

Sekoshia SP180 Dot Matrix Printer
£187.95

Prices include post & packing in U.K. Overseas orders please

add £1 .00 per cass/disk for AIR MAIL delivery. Cheques or

postal orders payable to:

WORLDWIDE SOFTWARE

1 Bridge Street, Galashiels TD1 1SW

TEL: 0896 57004

LOOK FOR
THE PLAIN
PACK...

THAT PACKS
TWO PLANES!

Developed from 'Double Phantom'
on the BBC, as seen on 'Micro Live' TV

Runs on single or linked C64's.
(Link cable voucher with program)

£9.95 Turbo Cassette
£ll.95Disc

PHONE

24
HOUR

Locally, or direct, first class post free.

0903 776000

ACCESS/
VISA

OR CHEQUE/P.O. TO P.O. BOX 66
EAST PRESTON WEST SUSSEX BN16 2TX

'Have You Had Enough
Of Arcade Games
Or Spreadsheets?'

There Is An Alternative..'

C64

STRATEGIC
PLUS

SOFTWARE

JUKI

SPECIALISTS IN QUALITY COMPUTER GAMES FOR
THE DISCERNING GAMER

» are on cfec only

Ring tor our NEW Catalogue

(Only £1.00 — Redeemable on first order)
AND DISCOVER A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT

B 01-979 2987

strai«*c plus software po box 8 hampton

mioox tw12 3xa

THE CHOICE IS YOURS I

FREEZE FRAME Mk IV H FREEZE FRAME LAZER

BACKUP CARTRIDGES

THE FACTS

Almost eighteen months ago. Freeze Frame
Mk I revolutionised backup methods. Since
then many Imitators have appeared on the
market. Some of the claims being made for
certain of these products are rather mis-
leading. Let us inform you of some positive
facts.

1. Much of the new software released uses
"Antl-Free*e"; only Freeze Frame and
one other product can handle these.

2. Only Freeze Frame can automatically
handle these and other programs. You
don't need to be an "Expert" or need "O"
levels to operate Freeze Frame.

3. At press date 1 1 1.2.87) our exhaustive
tests were unable to find any memory
resident program that both Freeze
Frame Mk IV and Lazer were unable to
back up, completely automatically.

4. Similar tests with all rival products
proved disastrous.

THESE ARE THE FACTS

| not outrageous advertising claims)

NEW PRICE . . . WHY SETTLE FOR LESS !

Now you can Buy a pedigree Freeze Frame backup
cartridge for a startling new price. No need to settle for
less, this is the latest development of the originator. More
power, more features, easier to use.

POWER
Legendary amongst Commodore owners but with con-
tinual development now even more impressive.

FEATURES
Three cartridges in one . . . fast load, utilities and backup.
TAPE to DISC TAPE to TAPE

DISC to DISC DISC to TAPE

So simple to use, just plug in and switch on, at the menu
choose your option, no messing with software, it's always
ready.

Load the program that you wish to backup, press the
button on Freeze Frame, then you can either:

1 . Press "D" to save to disc with fast reload.

2. Press "S" to save to disc with standard reload.

3. Press "T" to save to tape with fast reload.

MULTI STAGE PROGRAMS
The standard cartridge will transfer to disc many
tape based multl stage programs, e.g. Summer
Games II, Silent Service, Winter Games, etc. and
when used in conjunction with the regularly updated
"F.F. Utility Disc" the vast majority of programs of
this type can be handled.

MORE FEATURES

* Doubles as a fast load cartridge

* Loads extra parts fast

* Built-in Fast Format

* Built-in File Copier (up to 248 blocks)

* New "SELECTALOAD" feature (Press "L" for
directory, select with cursors, then press F3 to
load.

* Undetectable by software

* Files compressed for disc economy

* 128/1 28D compatible in '64 mode
PROGRAM RELOAD IS INDEPENDENT OF CARTRIDGE

NOW ONLY £28.95

At this price there is no need to settle for less

UPGRADES: Mk I or II . . . £14.95

Mk III or IIIB . . . £9.95

Mk IV to LAZER ... £1 1 .95

DISC DISECTOR V5.0 II QUICKDISC+

The fifth version of the country's leading disc backup/
utility program. This latest version includes many
"PARAMETERS" to handle the latest highly protected
discs. This includes the latest American and English
software. Be warned if you want to back up software by
Ocean. Gremlin, Hewson, Domark, and even U.S., Gold
whose protection schemes are NOT always the same as
the American versions, then you MUST have "D.D.". At
press date, we are sure NO other advertised pro-
duct will handle all these, be it American or
German.

INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING

* EVESHAM 3 MINUTE NIBBLER

* EVESHAM 8 MINUTE NIBBLER

* MANY PARAMETERS (The vital code for the
protection schemes)

* DUAL DRIVE NIBBLER

* MENU MAKER
(with select facility)

* DISC ORDERLY

* FAST FORMAT

* FAST FILE COPY

* UNSCRATCH

* DISC RESCUE

* DISCMON+

* ETC., ETC., ETC.

The whole package is menu driven and has its
own fast boot system built In for your conveni-
ence. Pays for Itself the first day you receive it.

only £24.95

Customers with earlier versions may return them along with a

payment of £7.95 to receive V5.0.

Most routines are CBM 128 and

1570/71 compatible in 64 mode.

Our highly popular fast load and save plus utility cartridge
has received many favourable reviews.

* FAST LOAD (5 to 7 times improvement!

* FAST SAVE |5 to 7 times improvement)

* FAST FORMAT (20 seconds)

* FAST BACKUP (4 minutes)

* FAST FILE COPY (up to 248 blocks)

* EASY DOS COMMANDS

* CENTRONICS PRINTER DRIVER

* RESET BUTTON (unstoppable!

* HELPS MENU

* USES NO MEMORY

* '1 28 COMPATIBLE ('64 mode)
Exception value for money at only . . .

£19.95

1541 QUIET STOPS

Cure for ever the dreaded 1 54 1 drive head "hammering"

* Easy to fit

* Detailed instructions

* One kit does two drives

+ Helps prevent misalignment

ONLY £4.95

Not suitable for "turn lever" type drives.

ANOTHER TRENDSETTER?

From the design team that changed the face of backup
technology comes another Innovation. The powers of
Freeze Frame have been combined with a staggeringly
quick new loading system. An amazing 32K of ROM
provides you with all the facilities of Freeze Frame
Mk IV as described opposite, plus the stunning new
LAZER loading technique.

Check these LAZER features:
* Reload a program in 10-15 seconds *

* Save a program In 1 0-20 se'onds *

• Loads extra parts at VERY HIGH speed *

* Load speed approx. 20 X normal +

* Save speed approx. 20x normal +

• Includes RESET *

Cartridge must be present to reload at LAZER speed
Proven power with stunning new technology:

only £39.95

UPGRADES: Mk I or II . . . £29.95
Mk III or IIIB... £19.95
MklV. . .£11.95

DOUBLE!?

THE tape backup "device"

Many thousands of this popular product have been sold
and sales continue to flourish. Why? We think because it
is the best product of it's type. Consisting of hardware and
software it uses a unique method controlled by the
software that allows you to produce perfect backups of
your tape software.

It Is very easy to use and very successful. In fact
our tests have proved that Doubler can achieve
100% success.

only £12.95

PHYSICAL EXj/\A/I

Have you got . . .

Alignment problems

If so, you need this package. Contains digital alignment
disc and drive fault diagnosis software that allows you to
check and correct head alignment.

* CHECKS RADIAL ALIGNMENT

* CHECKS SPEED

* CHECKS BELT AND CLAMPING

* THOROUGH INSTRUCTIONS

* INCLUDES QUIET STOPS

only £39.95

ORDERING INFORMATION

ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND FREE DELIVERY WITHIN U.K. (Despatch within 24 hours whenever possible)

By Post

Send cheque. P.O.. or ACCESS/VISA details to our Evesh

HOW TO ORDER

* By Phone

Call our Evesham branch and quote your ACCESSA/ISA details

EVESHAM MICROS, 63 BRIDGE ST, EVESHAM, WORCS. WR11 4SF

CALLERS WELCOME Tel.' 0386 41989 TeleX: 333294 TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME

Also at: 1756 Per shore Road, Cotter idge, Birmingham B30 3BH. Tel: 021 458 4564

All items subject to availability. E.&O.E. Orders from Government and Educationa
Overseas Orders: Within Europe, please send advertised price. Outside Europe

departments welcome
add £2.00 for Air Mail

Why buy a 1 541 C when you can buy
this neat, reliable and compact drive
for less money?

This Is the best Commodore ready printer you
can buy. Combines many unique features with superb
reliability, styling and print quality. But the real
beauty is that the interface cartridge is interchangeable so
if you change comp-uters just buy a new interface.

In a group test with other

popular printers such as Epson, Citizen and OKI What Micro

magazine described the NL 10 as

'the Rolls Royce of this group'. ONLY £249.00

Automatic cut sheet feeder available as an option for £63.25

SELECTED PRODUCTS

SEIKOSHASP180VC

A new Commodore ready printer that offers both friction
and tractor feed combined with NLQ ability. Print speed is
1 OOcps in draft and 1 6cps in NLQ.

only £189.95

I54IC DRIVE. The latest version of the 1 54 1 .

better drive mechanism and new ..» __

colour ONLY t lOV.TD

DISC NOTCHER. Double the capacity of your
discs with this handy gadget. Cuts second

write protect notch accurately and f _ — _,

easily ONLY £5.95

AZIMATE 3000. Handy package allows you

to easily check and realign the tape head

of your CBM data recorder. Includes — » -_

screwdriver ONLY fc0i95

MOTHERBOARD. 4-slot. with either all

upright sockets, or three upright and

one through socket, to suit modern; f%n /\A

please specify ONLY fclOiUU

POWER PACK. High quality replacement cjm ap

power pack for CBM 64 ONLY U4i95

XETEC SUPERGRAPHIX. The best Cen-
tronics printer interface for your 64/1 28.
Large buffer, downloadable fonts. rtn aa
etc ONLY fcOViUU

DATA RECORDER. CBM compatible, same

performance as the C2N/I53! but cheaper r<5* ap

and includes a pause button ONLY C&4iV5

Large stocks of Commodore- related equipment at
sensible prices. If you don't see what you want,
give us a call.

DISKS AND BOXES

25 bulk-packed DS/DD disks with w/p tabs _ - — — _

and labels ONLY £13.95

25 disks as aove with SO capacity lockable a-* A .

box ONLY £22.95

25 disks as above with 100 capacity lockable — — _ — _

box ONLY £24.95

50 capacity lockable box ONLY £1 0.95

100 capacity lockable box ONLY £13.95

I FEATURES -

* Handles Disc Turbos

* Very Reliable

* Direct Drive Motor

* Compact Size

* 1 Year Guarantee

• Very Quiet

* Ultra Compatible

* Doesn't Overheat

• External 8/9 Switch

• 20% Faster

Tests have shown the Excelerator to be more compatible

with protected software than the CBM 154IC. We can't find
any software that it will not load.

TWO PURCHASE OPTIONS -

DONT BUY A LUMBERING
HIPPO (1541C)!

THE EXCELERATOR+ OFFERS
MORE FOR LESS MONEY

SPECIAL

INTRODUCTORY

PRICE

ONLY

£159^

COMBINATION OFFER
EXCELERATOR +

and

FREEZE FRAME

MklV

ONLY

179.95!

THE SLIMLINE '64^*^ your MT moder "

A NEW IMAGE FOR
THAT FAVOURITE
COMPUTER

• Easy to Fit

• Lower key height

This modern case with it's sleek style

will transform your '64. The high quality injection

mould is superbly finished in the latest ivory colour.

The lower key height is also a boon to operator comfort.

Fitting is very simple, requiring just a Philips screwdriver, and can

be completed in less than 1 minutes. Stock now available so order

for quick delivery.

DOLPHIN DOS

YOU WONT

BELIEVE
\ YOUR EVES I

THE EFFECT IS STAqG^RINg.

Now established as THE parallel operating system for the 1 54 1 disc drive. Hundreds of satisfied users include
business, hobby, full-time programmers, and many leading software houses. Including Gremlin Graphics,
Oomark, Superior, Alllgata, Thalamus, Adventure International, and Software Projects.

The speed and efficiency is truly unbelievable, it is compatible with the vast majority of commercial software,

speeding up both the loading of the program and of SEO/REL files. (It is brilliant with Superbase. Easyscript, etc.)

For non-compatible programs it can be completely switched out. It DOES NOT use a special disc format and

your existing discs will be compatible.

FITTING

Fitting involves the insertion of two sub assembly circuit boards, one in the 1 54 1 and one in
the '64/'128. These normally just plug in but on some '64s a small amount of soldering is necessary.

SOME OF THE FEATURES

* 25x FASTER LOADING |PRG FILES)

* 12x FASTER SAVING (PRGFILESI

* 10X FASTER LOADING (SEQ FILES)

* 8x FASTER SAVING |SEO FILES)

* 3x FASTER LOAD/SAVE |REL FILES)

* E.G. LOAD 202 BLOCKS IN 5 SECS

(These figures do not allow for searching)
EXTRAS AVAILABLE

Kernal for '128 in 128 mode £9.95

User port expansion card (3 slot) £14.95

Dolphin Copy (Whole disc in 18 sees and lightning fast file copier) £7.95

Dolphin main board for second drive c/w lead £44.95

If you require further Information, please send SAE for fact sheet

* EASY AND FAST DOS COMMANDS

* USE 40 TRACKS FOR 749 BLOCKS

* MONITOR BUILT IN

* DRIVES CENTRONICS PRINTER

* ENHANCED SCREEN EDITOR

* EXTRA BASIC COMMANDS

Best Hardware
Utility of year

Only
'****«* for cm*

p '^sp 6 e ;^

In Australia : contact Micro Accessories of S.A., Unit 8, Hewittson Road, Elizabeth West, S. Australia 5 1 1 3. Tel : |08) 287-0 1 9 1

CI 6 Storm —
Mastertronic £ 1 .99

Storm is Mastertronic's attempt at a
Gauntlet style game. I suppose I
expect too much for £1.99 though,
because this isnt what I hoped tor
— with pretty ugly, chunky graphics
and rather tedious gameplay.

The story might set you in a
fantasy world where wizards and
warriors exist and you must rescue
a fair maiden. Well, that* s not
exactly the story I suppose, so here
it is.

Conine your wife has been
abducted by Una Cun, an evil
warlock-like being, and you, with
the aid of a wizard friend, Agravaln
Undead, must rescue her from his
lair.

As you play you are confronted
with Una Cun's evil minions who
drain your energy, you must shoot
them, and the generators that they
appear from. If you re-enter a room
the generators appear again so you
have to watch your step. You can
also pick up armour that protects
you slightly, from your enemies.

Other things to watch out for are
masks — that give a kind of smart
bomb effect, scrolls and amulets —
which destroy the evil minions
temporarily, and food and water
which replenish strength. There are
traps which you can spring, that are
either good or bad, and there are
keys to collect.

Summer Events

After almost a year of waiting we've
finally received a preview copy of
Summer Events. From first
impressions it looks very good
Indeed, well up to Winter Events
standard!

The finished copy should contain
six events: Platform, Diving, Pole
Vault, Cycling, Kayaking
(canoeing), Steeple Chase and
Butterfly.

As a professional platform diver
you have two attempts at dives and
can choose which type of dive you
want, from a choice of four: forward,
this is a normal dive with you facing
front on the platform; backward,
which starts you off with your back
to the water; inward, which throws
you forward and spins you inward
again; and, Inward, which starts
you off backward and throws you
forward.

Cycling is a race against the
computer or another player along a
length of road. To move you push

016

There is either a one or two player
option; two players making a better
game, and when all is said and
done, even though I dont like this
game, it has a whole lot going for it.

The worst thing about this game is
its ridiculous system of moving,
which involves having to push the
joystick left or right, in the required
direction and then point it forward
to move. Oh dear, we can certainly
do better than that, Mr Programmer
cant we?

C.K.

your Joystick in the direction shown
by an arrow, which spins around. As
you follow the point of the arrow you
start to go faster and as it goes
faster you begin to lose control of
your man.

Butterfly Is the other game we
were able to see. It contains
excellently drawn large sprites,
and smooth, fast animation. You
can compete against the computer
and this game approaches
swimming in a very different way
from previous games. The swimming
action is very accurate and this is a
really good event.

From what we saw in this
exclusive preview (thank you, Karen
of Anco) this looks well up to the
usual high standard of Kingsoft and
Udo Gerz the ace programme who
created Winter Events. Well try to
give you a full review in the next
CCI. This game could be
sensational. It looks as good as a
64 product. C.K.

Gun Law —
Mastertronic £1.99

Gun Law is Mastertronic's first
attempt at a game for the CI 6 that
involves Commando style tactics.

You are the last soldier left after
four months of fighting the invaders.
All the civilians have fled, leaving
you with the task of surviving, on
your own, with one machine gun as
your companion.

Fight your way through five levels
and then . . . And then it doesnt say
what you get or what you must do
next. Nice bit of incentive to
complete the game eh?

You start the game off with four
lives and get an extra life at every
ten thousand points, by no means
an easy feat.

As you hide behind trees and run
for cover, men suddenly materialize
before you — they dont come from
the very top of the screen but Jump
out at you in ambushes. Huts, pods

and trees block your path and you
must alos dodge the occasional
bullets from the enemy.

Your man runs along at quite a
pace and the scrolling of the screen
is fast. Although your score is not
displayed during play, when you
die it is shown, along with the
number of lives you have left.

The graphics of this game are
quite good with chunky, though well
animated, defined graphics. The
sound is okay though rather sparse.

Another good release from the
boys (and girls, don't want to be
sexist), at marvellous (no relation to
poor old Marvin Hagler)
Mastertronic.

72 Commodore Computing June 1987

Horrific News from
Courtney King!

Phantom by TYnesoft

It's positively frightening. . .How
good this game is..-. It is the kind
of game we have been waiting for
since Winter Events — This is a game
that uses the underrate C16 to
the limit.

I am writing this in the dark and
sending it to C.C.I, in invisible

ink Because I don't want the

Phantom to get me... Phantom is
maybe a Glove clone, even a Gauntlet
clone. It is haunting and totally

BRIU. Yea, Awesome. . .

The object of this terrifying game
is to clear four buildings of (vhoo)
ghosts using a high powered laser.
No.it is aot GhosEbusters.It's
much better. Each house is made up
of four floors. Each floor has one
l or several transporters. These are

the (eeekl) ghosts' link between this
I world and hellllf you destroy
■the transporters no more ghosts
can arrive to hinder you. (Help
help, I think something cold
has Just touched ny neck I)
Various objects are to be
collected such as keys, fuel -

which can be fast and powerful
laser fuel. speed fuel which is
extremely fast but weak and power
fuel which is extremely strong but
slow. There is also food, which
restores your ever decreasing
energy and glucose pills which speed
you up far a limited period. (Did you
just hear a door creak?)
Now we come to your gadgets - first
there is a radio immobiliser which
broadcasts a high-pitched signal
and stuns the ghosts ans second
there are ectoblaters that act as
a smart bomb, clearing your
surrounding area of ghosts (I
wish I had ona here now.There
is something giving me a nasty
chill up my spine. )The smart
ectoblaster gives you a welcome
breather from the attentions
of the ghosts.

Phantom is played at a very fast
race and you must fathom each
level's problems (by oausing the
game) before tackling it.The
scrolling is spirit smooth and
as fast as a flash of lightnibg
at midnight. The graphics of the

ghosts and the transporters are
particularly good. (Why is the
hair all over my body standing
on end?)

AS you finish the fourth floor
of the first house, the next house
is loaded up and you begin your -
fearsome job of exorcising the
nasties once more. This time, however,
with totally different surrounding
graphics and a new load of ghosts
and transporters. To get a look at
all the types of ghosts available
instead of rewinding the tape when
you die, you just load up the next
level. You will get the same layout
as level one but, believe it or not,
another set of dofferent ghosts.
Loading up the houses takes about
ten seconds and is no hassle at all.
(It is only the way the curtains
wave even on a windless night that
is the problem. )As you play, a tune
is banged out in the background
and it totally suits the pace of the
game. It is what I call a haunting
melody. . .

I have always said that mutiloading
games are the best and have been

proved right with Winter Events, Jet Set

Willy II and European Games .So come on

you other comapnies, why don't you

give it a go... not to say a ghost

of a chance. . .

This game is totally ghoulish. . .sorry I

meant awesome. Could it be bettered?

Well, what I'm really hoping is that

Anco's 64k rampack sells by the thousand |

Then Tynesoft could really go to

town and make Phantom 2 that would

blow everybody's minds.I've already

heard that if this game sells by the

billion as it should .Tynesoft will

bring out additional levels. As it

is it must find its way into everyone's

favourite game chest .You will miss

Phantom at your peril...

I Hope you can read this. I am

typing it in the dark -The candle

has just blown out and there is

the clanking of chains and I'm

beginning to break out in a cold

sweat .I'll have to get back to

Phantom.

Graphics **** Sound**** Payability**'

Price E6.95 Rating AWESOME

Micro Value —
Tynesoft £3.99

Micro Value is a new budget label
set up by Tynesoft. There are many
versions on the full line of
computers and each represents
great value for moneh. The C16
version is no exception to this with
two new releases, one old game of
exceptional quality, and only one
naff game as a filler.

The first game on the list is US
Drag Racing, which was to be
released singly at £6.95, is a flashy,
souped up version of the familiar
Decathlon type game. Your car, and
your opponents, are pushed into the
starting position on the grid, you
must then rev your engine, and a
the light changes to green, get into
gear. You keep building up enough
revs to change to a higher gear and
as the race ends, your parachute is
ejected to slow you down. You have
six opponents; Plzton, Tex Turbo,
Clint Clutch, and others with similar
automobilisn names, each with a
more powerful car than the last. A
good game with colourful graphics
and many pleasing frills.

3D Maze, the next game, is a
variation of Pac Man. It actually
puts you inside the maze, with
corridors receding into the distance
and you must guide yourself down
them, watching out for the ever
present Maze-Monster/s. You have a
map to guide your way, but there
are many variations of the game to
ensure you dont rely on this as your
means of movement. This game,
though simple, is extremely

addictive makes an excellent
addition to the tape.

Apollo Rescue Is the only real no-
no on this tape and even this is
mildly addictive for a while. It
involves you having to reassemble
the part of an Apollo 16 rocket. You
are hindered by many aliens and
these are very fast. You must pick
up each piece of rocket in the
correct order and then go on the
next planet and get more pieces. In
between this planet hopping you
must retrieve satellites floating in
space, using a robot arm. This is the
most boring game in the
compilation. New we come to
GunsUnger, the best game of the
tape. You are Jesse James, a
deadly bounty hunter. To Increase
your money you've decided to hunt
down outlaws and collect the
reward money. The outlaws hide out
in doorways and on roofs but you
can aim by pushing his gun arm up
or down. This game doesn't sound
like much but it Is totally addictive
and is a really great game.

If these games were £1.99 each I
would rate US Drag Racing as Crisp,
3D Maze as Crisp, Apollo Rescue as
Iffy-Dodgy and GunsUnger as
Mega. Prom these ratings Judge for
yourself how good the value of the
compilation is. I'd rate it as
'Amazing'.

C.K.

74 Commodore Computing June 1987

— . f i ; t v f I'f r? ■» T v *~1 t i t i li

/.•■■•■•••■•■■••••■•■••■•■.■■.-M'.UI

ne* 8 " d

enty ,,dire ct

ublis^inpiy

n ba

Talking Word Processor

Talker does everything you'd
expect from a full-featured word
processor, plus Talker does just
that — talks. It reads your text,
word-for-word or letter-by-letter.

So, Talker is great for
proofreading, learning to type and
the sight impaired.

Talker's pull down menus and

simple commands make it easy to

use, and at $69-96 it's easy on your

budget.

Bring your words to life with Talker.

$69.96

(714) 854-4434

TALKER

SOFTWARE

4000 MacArthur Blvd. Suite 3000
Newport Beach, California 92663

Shrink In A Box

A detailed psychotherapeutic
game on a disk, Dr Xes takes the
form of a Gestalt therapy session.
Learn more about artifical
intelligence, psychotherapy and
yourself. Dr. Xes even talks. More
fun than a padded room, great
for parties. S49-95.

Call collect to learn more
about Dr Xes. Or order risk free,
your satisfaction is guaranteed.

(714) 854-4434

SOFTWARE

4000 MacArthur Blvd. Suite 3000
Newport Beach, California 92663

4 j~s

We Teach Your Computer Spanish.
It Teaches You.

Senor Tutor leads a begin-
ning Spanish student through
self-paced, changing lessons.
You learn greetings and
phrases, household terms,
and much more.

Sophisticated speech
synthesis actually lets your
computer speak Spanish.

Turn your computer into
your Spanish teacher with
Senor Tutor.

i EI Espanol es facil!

Call collect to learn more
about Senor Tutor. Or, order

risk free, your satisfaction is
guaranteed.

(714) 854-4434

FM&UT

S F T w a a E

4000 MacArthur Blvd. Suite 3000
Newport Beach. California 92663

ZING

PROBLEMS WITH CLI?

IN NEED OF SOME

USEFUL UTILITIES?

YOU NEED ZING!

Copy, Rename, Delete, Move,
Edit, Create, Protect and
Comment your files without
using a Workbench Disk.
Plus Hot Keys, Screen Dimmer,
Print Spooler, IFF Capture,
System Monitor, Redefine
Function Keys etc.
Not to be confused with CLI Mate.

Only £49.95

*
•
•
*

*

•
*

IWIIGA

Users

Group

Bimonthly Newsletter
Technical Information
Discount on all products
Users Bulletin Board
Problem Solving — Software &
Hardware

Allied with U.S.A. Amiga Groups
Special introductory modem offer
Send or call for details

AMIGA USERS GROUP

66 London Road, Leicester LE2 OQD
or Tel: (0533) 550993

AMIGA CENTRE

ADVCONSET £19.95 ///m an, jm rn o_ m

arct?cfox"::"".":::::;::;::::;;:;;:;;"::;:::!£i»« w // Alwl EGA

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LEADERBOARD £24.95 ,

va/ori n rsAMFc; f24Q«5 V Supplies of Amigas to industry, education,

SSS room business and personal users.

WIN I bK bAMhb tz».»o / One year warranty including on site

MULTI FORTH £129.95 v maintenance.

MIDI INTERFACE £49.95 V Large range of software already available,

SILENT SERVICE £24.95 over 100 including technical reference

MARAUDER II £39.95 , manuals

nci i ivc da imt cfio a* v Technical support from people who have

utLUAt raiiN i ^"ftc been using Amigas for over 18 months.

DELUXE PRINT £69.95 ^J Over 80 megabytes of Public Domain

DELUXE VI DEO £69.95 programs already available to all Amiga

GRABBIT £29.95 owners.

2 MEG RAM ...£519.95 V Books, papers and disks for all models — in

ci ir»UTOiMi Vi ATrita "Vi"" c/iq'qi; fact everything you need for any Commodore.

T^AVA^m r^ ro=« V The only dealer in the UK to support all

AMIGA WORLD £2.50 v Commodore products.

or yj Run by Commodore enthusiasts — at your

SUBSCRIPTION £14.00 service.

CAVENDISH COMMODORE CENTRE
66 LONDON ROAD, LEICESTER LE2 OQD.

or Tel: 0533 550993

CLIMate

The cleverly named title of this software
product refers to an AmigaDOS utility
rather than something connected ith the
weather. Its function is to control and
manage disk and disk files more easily
and effectively. This is done through a
well-designed intuition front-end making
full use of the mouse with the sole
purpose of keeping the unskilled user
away from the Command Line Interface,
otherwise known as the CLI.

I was lucky enough recently to meet
the two programmers responsible for
CLIMate. Chris Nicotra and Dave
Milligan allowed me a sneak preview of
the unfinished project and I was suitably
impressed at that point. Now that I have
had the opportunity to look at the
finished article, I'm even more
impressed.

The basic construction of CLIMate is
two columns — a source and destination.
The respective disk directories appear
in each column, selection of the drives is
all done by the mouse. Support is given
any AmigaDOS trackdisk device —
which means that a 5.25 inch drive, ram
disk and hard disk as well as the
conventional 3.50 inch drives are usable.
All the file manipulations are carried out
by selection with the mouse. Thus there
is no need to enter the file names, even
changing disk directories or disk drives
is accomplished by clicking the mouse.

When I say everything 'is all done by
the mouse' this includes renaming files
and deleting files — although naturally
the user does have to type in some file
names for this task, it is the selection of
the AmigaDOS operation which is made
by the mouse. Another useful point of
these file maipulation is the support
given to pattern-matching. This is a very
powerful feature of AmigaDOS and is

something that all users would do well
to study since pattern-matching offers
considerably more than those provided
by MS-DOS.

Printing of files is another function
which CLIMate excells in. Once more
complete control is given by the mouse
and the user can closely control the
format of the output.

Unfortunately there is no print detec-
tion of binary files — this is important as
any AMIGA user will inform you since
these generally contain large number of
form feed characters. Attempting to
print a binary file results in large
volumes of paper being sent through the
printer before the user realises what is
going on! Hopefully this will be rectified
in the next release of CLIMate.

One of the most interesting uses that
CLIMate can be put to is the showpic
function. This allows the user to display
files containing an IFF image — IFF is a
standard AMIGA file format for audio,
text or visual data and allows full
interchangeability between different
software products. The IFF file display is
selected entirely by mouse and should
the file contains a colour table, then
some manipulation of the colours is
possible.

A disk can be formatted from within
CLIMate, although this is restricted to
DFO: and DF1: drives. Should the user
want to format a 5.25 inch disk then this
drive should be made the first external
drive. In other words, this drive should
be connected to the system and any
others daisy-chained to this unit. In my
own system the 5.25 inch drive is
configured as DF2: and forms the last
drive in the floppy chain. I prefer to
operate it this way because of the
vagaries of AmigaDOS when using the
5.25 inch drive. I mean by this the
problem of the system not recognising
when a 5.25 inch disk is changed and I
find it easy to operate this drive when
formatting disks to be at the CLI level.

It is difficult not to compare CLIMate

with its nearest competitor ZING! in the
AMIGA disk utility field. The two
products use an INTUITION front-end
although CLIMate makes greater use of
the mouse, an integral part of the
environment. However, as things stand,
ZING! provides a greater number of user
facilities, forexamplethe screen dimmer
and task monitor. I found it very difficult
to choose between the two, for CLIMate
is probably easier to use.

Prospective purchasers should realise
that CLIMate will run under WORK-
BENCH 1 .2 only — ensure you have this
before parting with any money. Knowing
Chris Nicotra and Dave Milligan, they
are not likely to let the grass grow under
their feet and product enhancements
are probably well under way.

I would suggest that readers view and
use both Zing and CLImate before
arriving at their decision. Try to ensure
that the conditions under which the
demonstration takes place are similar to
your own system configuration in terms
of the hardware. Also consider the
structure of your disks — are they
mainly single files or do they contain
multiple levels of directories. Check
them out operating with a hard disk —
OK, you might not be lucky enough to
have one right now, but prices of these
are steadily falling and the great day
may be closer than you think. The
mention of hard disks bring me to a neat
conclusion because for the moment I
reserve my opinion on which is the
better. However, I will say this —
whichever the two brings out a hard disk
backup utility which will spool between
DFO and DF1: thus making the process
multi tasking and quicker gets my vote!

UK Distributor: Precision Software Ltd,

6 Park Terrace, Worcester Park, Surrey

KT4 7JZ. Tel: 01-330 7166.

USA Distributor: Progressive Peripherals

and Software Inc. 464 Kalamath Street,

Denver, Colorado 80204. Tel: 303-825-

4144.

Jumpdisk

Jumpdisk is the first of what is bound to
be the movement toward the future
development of Amiga information — a
magazine on a disk. With everyone who
owns an Amiga by necessity a disk drive
owner too, it makes a good deal of sense
to issue a magazine that can be read
directly by the machine to which it is
intended to offer information. In addi-
tion, of course, it can offer programs
without the tiresome requirement of to
type them in. Of course, disk orcassette
based publishing has been tried before
— without a great deal of success it has
to be said. However with the obvious
usefulness it has to the Amiga, for this
computer it will probably turn out

diffe.ently. What will decide finally will
be the interest that the disk offers. I n this
case, with Jumpdisk which is the first to
reach outside the US, it certainly appears
to be likely to attract a substantial
number of buyers.

It is very easy to enter and has two
menus — an article menu and a program
menu. The first describes what can be
found on the disk and the second lets
you get at it. As with any magazine there
has to be a balance of different interests
and on Jumpdisk it varies between
simple arcade games and the famous
Eliza, where you can have a conversation
with the computer, to articles about
technical aspects of the new 2000
Amiga. It has to be said that these
articles do not go very deep into the

subject and are more for the general
reader than the expert in search of deep
technical enlightenment.

I think that the audience for this type
of publication will increase but will be
somewhere between the newish 1000
owner and someone who is starting with
an Amiga for the first time. If you are
among that group then Jumpdisk will
certainly prove of interest to you. It is to
be published monthly and is very reason-
ably priced at £8.95. However one of the
valuable guarantees is that if the disk is
defective it will be replaced at once.

Contact (UK) George Thompson
Services, Old Reigate Rd, Betchworth,
Surrey RH3 7DR. Tel: 073 7844675.

78 Commodore Computing June 1987

LONDON S LARGEST DISPLAY OF PRINTERS MONITORS
COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS

nW^Sndm^milGA Centre

PCT1 AMIGA A500
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'The Ultimate Home Computer' 51 2K machine
with built-in 3Vz" 880K double sided drive. Runs
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IN STOCK NOW!

Based around the Motorola 68000 CPU,
with multi-tasking as standard along with
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PRICES f cad

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IN STOCK NOW!

'The Only Desktop Computer You Will Ever Need'
capable of running 2 x 3W disc drives, 1 x 5 1 /4" drive and
a hardcard with IBM Emulation simultaneously.

£1095

PRICES FROM b lUWW+VAT

INCLUDING FREE SOFTWARE + ON SITE MAINTENANCE

Organize Database

Dbase III compatible high power database

Scribble V2.0 Wordprocessor

Now includes mailmerge and spellchecker

£99.95 inc VAT
£99.95 inc VAT

Analyze II Spreadsheet with Graphics ....

New version now much faster with integrated graphics t 113.95 inc VAT
Deluxe Paint II Now in stock

PHONE FOR NEW UPDATED AMIGA CATALOGUE AND PRICE LIST

Largest range of floppy disks and printer

ribbons available in London over the counter.

London's largest range of games and

software. Thousands of titles in stock.

PHONE FOR NEW CATALOGUE

PUBLISHER 'Move over Mac"

Desk top publishing for the Amiga integrates with deluxe paint,
scribble wordprocessor etc. Can produce copy in both colour
and black and white

Desktop Publishing Software
£199.95 inc VAT

Mail Order + Export Hot Line Phone 01-686 6362

^"^ Delivery by Securicor [4 day) please add £5.75 per item.
aJa Delivery by Securicor 24 hour please add £9.95 per item.

Send off or order by 'phone quoting your Access, Visa No.

'Phone 01 -686 6362. Immediate despatch on receipt of order or *■■■

cheque clearance. Or Telex your order on: 946240 Attn 1 9001 335.

EXPORT
Contact our specialist export department on 01-686 6362

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ALSO A VAST RANGE OF DIS K DRIVES, JOYSTICKS, DISK BOXES, INTERFACES, SHEETFEEDERS,

53-59 High Street, Croydon, Surrey CRO 1QD. Tel: 01-681 3022

ETC.

Hello Neighbors!

Thank you for your support and concern for
our software products.

I have gained much experience with
microcomputer software design by acting as a
consultant and custom programmer for several
companies, including Tandy Corporation,
Timex Computer Corporation, I.B.M., Epson
American, Inc., and Panasonic Computers.

As founder of Micro-Systems Software, Inc.,
and the primary author of all our programs, it is
now my intent to create practical and quality
software for you, by devoting my full efforts to
the MSS Research and Development Division. ^

Enjoy your Amiga!

Steven Pagllarulo

Vice President

Micro-Systems Software

7 Years of Quality Software and Still Growing Strong!

:

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ANALYZE!

• Powerful Electronic •
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SCRIBBLE!

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• Electronic Bulletin •

Board System

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1 Custom Menu Creation '

MICRO-SYSTEMS
SOFTWARE, INC.

4301-18 Oak Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33063
Telephone: (305) 391-5077

Ask for a dealer demonstration of these fine products.

For Dealer Information:
Vision Technologies Limited
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Tel: 01-760-0013

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MINDSCAPE from MIRRORSOFT

FOR YOUR AMIGA

"Cinemaware. . . ,an extraordinary and incredible use of the Amiga's graphic
qualities to make a game that just leaves you stunned. " Amiga User.

Sin had and the
Throne of the
Falcon

An interactive mystery and
action thriller, designed to
test the player's
swordfighfing mettle, quick
wit, and ability to perform
under pressure.

S.D.I.

A game ot space combat with
an exciting flight simulation,
combined with romance,
intrigue and heart-stopping
action. And the fate of the
world hanging in the
balance. ▼

Defenderof
the Crown

An interactive movie
tale of brave knights,
beautiful maidens,
jousting, swordfights
and enemy castle sieges.

Deja Vu

Set in a sleazy underworld
reminiscent of Raymond
Chandler, this game allows
interaction with almost
everyone and everything on
screen.

Uninvited

A high resolution graphics
create a compelling Gothic
setting which, combined with
horribly realistic sound effects
and sophisticated animation,
will draw you into its complex
web of mystery.

Balance
ofPower

A strategy game of
geopolitics in the nuclear age.

Available from all good software dealers or direct from us- UK only.

Phone for latest prices 01-377 4644

1 would like to order:-

Defender of the Crown

POA

]] Sinbad

POA

□ S.D.I.

POA

Balance of Power

£39.95

DejaVu

£29.95

Uninvited

£29.95

I enclose a cheque/PO No_
for

payable to Mirrorsoft Ltd

Please deb it my AccessA/isa/American Express
A/cNo.

Signed
Name
Address

-Postcode.

_Date_

Tel No:

Mirrorsoft Limited; Freepost (BS4382), Paulfon, Bristol, BS1 8 5BR.

'Sinbad and the
Throne of the Falcon'

Are computer buffs sexless
wonders? Are they really propeller
heads who after a hard night
slaving over a hot keyboard simply
retire to bed and dream of printed
circuits? Are they for that matter
completely lacking in a sense of
humour and merely interested in
the more serious things of life such
as databases and sub-routines. Do
they have read only memories? If
on the other hand, they actually
relax for a while and indulge in
something a little less heavyweight
like games, does it have to be
mindless, kill-everything-in-sight-
with-the-finger-never-off-the-fire-
button frenzy? Well, I can tell you
one company that does not think
that any of the foregoing is totally
true. That company is Mindscape. It

has gor to oe saia inai wnen you are
talking Amiga games then you are
— this far in the lovely little
machine's brief career — without
doubt talking Mindscape. In the
year or so that the Amiga has been
gaining a place in the range of
computers that the public can
really use for life enhancing
activities whatever they may be,
Mindscape — not a previously lapel
grabbing name to most computer
users — has emerged with a certain
sparkle that has made all other
home entertainment software
houses look pretty dull. I suppose to
be fair, Electronic Arts might just be
excepted from that satisfyingly
sweeping overstatement. E.A. have,
after all already brought out some
really excellent products to grace

the Amiga's colourful screen. But I
repeat, when you are talking Amiga
games, you are really talking
Mindscape.

One of the reasons for this is that
as you will know from my frequent
complaints, there are not that many
Amiga games as such. Most have
been quietly lifted from other
formats, generally the 64. So it has
not been too difficult for someone,
in this case Mindscape to make an
impact in such a sparse field. And it
has achieved that impact with only
two major games "Defender of the
Crown" which you are no doubt fed
up with hearing this magazine
praise and now what I will predict

Teatuie;

will be its second big success
"Sinbad and the Throne of the
Falcon". This another release in
Mindscape's much and worthily
vaunted Cinemaware series in
which the graphic wonders that the
Amiga does provide are beginnng
to be adequately if not yet
excellently exploited. We still await
the highly-touted 'King of Chicago'
with some impatience.

It has to be said that "Sinbad" is
not a "Defender" — but it does not
set out to be. "Defender" was really
an old fashioned strategy game, set
conventionally in medieval times
with some delightful moving style
pictures that made wide-eyed

crowds gasp. I dont think that
"Sinbad" is going to achieve the
same immediate stunning effect.
First because we have already seen
"Defender" and we are looking for
something that will put even that in
the shade. Second, because,
although the graphics still bear that
vivid Amiga stamp they are by no
means highly sophisticated or
employ high technology style tricks
to make us feel we are watching
something excitingly new as it must
be admitted did "Defender".

Sinbad might indeed have been
written on another less complex or
advanced computer. Much of the
"action" take place with relatively
still graphics, and the techniques
used — answering questions from a

multiple choice are as old as
adventure games on any computer.
However, it's clear that the creators
of "Sinbad" have set out to build
something else. They have I believe
succeeded in writing what is really
the first graphic adventure for the
Amiga and with the lack of
interesting games software about,
they will probably reap a rich
harvest for their efforts.

For "Sinbad" clearly contains <
element that will make it populc

Sin bad
continues
here...

in different places but there Is a
certain order of question and
answer that you must discover,
probably by trial and error, that will
lead you on through to the heart of
the mystery.

the sexes. The scenes with the
Gypsy girl can end — if you make
the correct responses — in some
literally burning kisses that with
Amiga graphics are going to cause
quite a sensation.

among almost every age group. It is
fun. Further, although its graphics
are not highly sophisticated and it
gives the appearance of an almost
children's book style presentation,
it is not at all easy to complete. The
cartoon-like pictures can easily fool
you into thinking that it is going to
be a pushover to complete. It isn't.
And I think a great many people
are going to get a great deal of
pleasure trying to work out exactly
what you, as Sinbad are seeking
and the complicated way you ha
to travel to find it.

In Sinbad, you find yourself in
some mythical land that just might
be the site of the Arabian Nights.
You have a ship and you must travel
on some mysterious quest,
gathering a crew as you go. As you
reach different ports of call — you
select them for a changing menu —
you are allowed to speak to certain
characters: Prince Haroun, a Princess,
Libertina, a Mysterious Gypsy and
so on. They will have conversations
with you, through cartoon style
bubbles which you can answer from
the multiple choice menus. These
conversations are always the same
when you meet the same characters

ersed with th
conversations are a numbe
apparently random attacks i
by swordsmen or pterodactyl-like
birds. You have arcade style actions
to perform to beat off these either
with what looks like a scimitar or a
cannon respectively. If you lose in
this or other cases, things go badly
for you and either your or your
beloved Princess are slain and
back you go to the beginning.
Although pleasingly you are
memorialised in a tapestry.

This whole adventure is very far
from as simple as it seems. It also
has a quite humorous turn to its
conversations and an agreeably
adult approach to the attraction of

o*t-> cl t? i

the ■£>**"'

off.

I have deliberately not revealed
too much of what the game is about.
I am not sure how much anyone will
enjoy it once its secrets are fully
understood. I personally find that
the game continues to be a
challenge, for it offers, I am sure, a
variety of different ways to achieve
the same final result which are
worth searching for in their own
right. I also believe that as a game,
"Sinbad" is probably better or at
least more enjoyable that
"Defender". I like its exotic feeling
which I find more attractive than
the coarseness of medieval
England. I like its humour which
was not highly noticeable in
"Defender". I think that "Sinbad"
being a touch sexy is not likely to
be a put-off either.

My bet is that the Amiga 500 will
get out in substantial numbers
before the software houses,
especially the games companies,
will have really got to grips with the
potential of the 16 bit butter
blasters that could really take the
68000 games market by storm. So
"Sinbad" will gain a substantial
market and please a lot of people
who are just beginning to
appreciate the delights of the
mouse driven powerhouse that is
standing there on the table just

[iting to amuse them. As an

ruga product, "Sinbad" is not
going to dazzle Ike an exploding
super nova, but it does offer some
tremendous fun. Can even a
technomad, keyboard basher really
turn that down?
Mindscape £49.95 Z.M.S.

Commodore Computing

Expansion

Memory

Without

The Wait.

Introducing Alegra: The Amiga
Memory Expansion Unit from
Access Associates.

512 K now.

Now you can add 51 2 K bytes of external
memory to your Amiga. In the smallest
package available, a footprint only
3 /4"-wide. And Alegra's no-wait-state
design lets your Amiga operate at its
intended speed. No delays. With Alegra
you get the benefit of fast memory at a
surprisingly economical price. AND,
BEST OF ALL, IT'S AVAILABLE NOW.

Upgradeable to 2 MB later.

If you'll need 2 MB of memory in the
future, Alegra is still the right choice now.
Our 2 megabyte upgrade (using 1
megabit DRAMs) will give you the
memory you need in the same compact
package.

Ask for Alegra at your quality Amiga
dealer.

Total system memory is approximately
1 meg with the addition of our 51 2 K
Alegra (depending on specific
hardware configurations).

I ACCESS ASSOCIATES

491 Aldo Avenue

Santa Glara, CA 95054-2303

408-727-8520

Alegra features a 90 day parts and labor warranty againsi manufacturing detects.

'"Amiga Is a trademark of Commodore Amiga, Inc.

iReriem,

SCRIBBLE!
VERSION 2.0

I first reviewed this word processor for
the AMIGA in the August 1986 issue of
Commodore Business and Amiga User
together with Textcraft. Since then I
have continued to use SCRIBBLE! as
my AMIGA word processor without any
problems and as time has gone on I have
begun to fully appreciate the strengths
of this hardward/software combination.
For example, the instantaneous refor-
matting of documents — the use of ons-
creen fonts to considerably enhance the
final design of documents — the very
powerful ability to cut and paste between
windows and not least the overall opera-
tional speed. It is no exaggeration on my
part to, state that SCRIBBLE! has paid
for itself in terms of increased through-
put. I mentioned in the previous review
that the requirements of authors and
journalists are very different from those
of a secretary and this product is one of
the very, very few word processors that
can cater for either group of user.

In the short space of time that has
passed since I first obtained SCRIBBLE!
(July 1986), Micro-Systems Software
Inc., the originators of this product have
not been idle and an updated version
(Version 2.0) arrived through the Donald
letter box. This version makes up for the
deficiencies apparent in Version 1.01,
namely a spelling checker and mail
merge facility. The former is obviously
of great value to persons such as myself
who tend to produce large columns of
text whilst the mail merage would be of
interest to commercial users whose
output tends to be repetitive in nature.
There are some additional features too.

My own AMIGA system now contains
40Mb hard disk, 2.5Mb RAM, an 8.0MHz
68010 processor together with the soft-
ware developers version of version 1.2
of Workbench, must qualify me as a
power-user, so any software is likely to
have a serious workout in addition to
testing compatibilities with the 68010.
This version of SCRIBBLE! in common
with its predecessor had no problems
and installation onto the hard disk
proved painless. In particular I looked
for compatibility with files created under
the earlier version and it was a consider-
able relief to find that these were not

chewed-up or mangled, a contrast to
conditions which seems to be accepted
practice in software updates in the MS-
DOS world.

Dictionaries

The spelling checker consists of two
dictionaries — a main dictionary and a
user dictionary named USERDICT The
main directory consists of 40,000 words
which provides an ample platform for
users to start with. The spelling facility
can be controlled down to an individual
word, window or a complete document
and is accessed from an additional
menu strip on the screen bar. USER-
DICT can be optionally merged with the
main dictionary to customise the latter
to your own requirements or left as a
strictly personal dictionary. One of the
benefits of merging the dictionaries lies
in an enhanced speed of checking
future documents as the software does
not have to search through both diction-
aries.

In addition to the usual spelling
checker options of ignoring the word,
learning it or editing the spelling, this
spell checker will also provide a display
of the next few words in the dictionary.
For example, if you requested the soft-
ware to guess the word considerable —
the spelling checker would display in
addition to considerable, the words
considerand considerably. The spelling
checker is able to recognise the root of a
word. Operation of this part of SCRIB-
BLE! is fast — used with a hard disk it is
usually a case of the system waiting for
you rather than the other way around.
To give you some indication of how fast
SCRIBBLE! actually is I requested a
word count of a document containing
circa 94,000 words — it took less than 3
seconds and this also included the total
number of characters! The only two
items I would like to see now are the
inclusion of athesaurusand user access
to the main dictionary for deletions and
word manipulations using character
wildcards.

Mail Merge

The other main addition to this version

of SCRIBBLE! relates to the mall-merge

facility. Mail-merge allows the creation
of standardised text to be linked with
another word processor file. Thus a let-
ter which was to be sent to many
respondents would be typed once with
the names and addresses held on a
separate file which could be a database
or spreadsheet. By calling up the mail-
merge, the software would read the text
(in this instance names and addresses)
into the letter document and then print
this out. The process would repeat itself
until all the. names and addresses had
bee read and printed out.

However, SCRIBBLE! allows more
than just a simple read variable as these
are termed — there are also set variables
and ask variables. A set variable will
insert an unchanging piece of text into
the main document in several places, for
example the current date or a product
reference number. An ask variable
causes the process of merging to pause
and the user is prompted fora response.
The text of the prompt is that which is
defined in the ask variable. For example,
this could be a request for the signato-
ry's name or department. Another use
foras/r variables could be in response to
filling in a form by unskilled users. The
potential is enormous and simply a mat-
ter of using your imagination.

The other enhancements to SCRIB-
BLE! include improved system perfor-
mance under version 1.2 of the Work-
bench additional commands using the
special AMIGA keys, single word dele-
tion, true backspacing and improved
visual displays during file handling.
These are just some of the many differ-
ences between version 2.0 and the ear-
lier version of SCRIBBLE! Micro-Systems
Software have made a good word pro-
cessor into a GREA T word processor
for the AMIGA.

B.D.

Supplier: Micro-Systems Software Inc.
4301-18 Oak Circle, Boca Raton FLA.
33431 USA

UK Distributor: Precision Software Ltd,
6 Park Terrace, Worcester Park Surrey
KT4 7JZ. Tel: 01 330 7166.

i Commodore Computing June 1987

<^>

C Compilers,
Development Tools

Lattice

New Lattice Amiga C Compiler

A major new release of Lattice C for the
Amiga is now available from Roundhill.
Version 3.1 includes an enhanced C
compiler, a full macro assembler, and a
new, faster and more efficient linker.
The library has over 255 functions (over
100 more than standard Amiga C), with
many more functions written in
assembler for efficiency, faster IEEE
floating point routines, support for
Amiga FFP floating point, and
multitasking support via fork and wait.

The compiler is delivered as a two-disk
package with a bootable system disk to
simplify installation. A single command
line can be used to execute the compiler,
linker and librarian (with AmigaDOS
wildcard characters).

New compiler features include direct
support of memory type specification,
custom segment names, and new
addressing modes that can help reduce
load module size by more than 20%.
The linker will support intermixed
base-relative and pc-relative addressing
modes.

A Professional Developer's Package is
also available, which includes the new
Co,mpiler, Lattice's LMK make utility,
Lattice Text Utilities and Screen Editor,
and the Metascope symbolic debugger
from Metadigm. Metascope is also
available separately.

We can upgrade your existing registered
copy of Lattice C to the new version.
Please call for full information.

Roundhill Computer Systems Limited
Axholme, London Road,
Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1LR

(0672) 54675

SERVICE

SUPPORT

RESPONSE

AMIGA Dealers:-

Contact us for all your
Software and Hardware
Peripheral Needs.

We stock a comprehensive
range of product for the
A500, A1000 & A200Q
Amigas,

\o*

Vo<

\o

^-^$f-?h

Dynamic CAD
Absoft A/C Fortran
Absoft A/C Basic
Scribble 2
Organise
Analyse
Softwood File 2
Mi Amiga Ledger
Deluxe Print II
Deluxe Video
Aegis Range
Lattice C 3.1
Faery Tale Adventure

Flight Simulator 2

Defender of the Crown

Digiview

Micro APL 68000

Metacomco Pascal

Metacomco Lisp

Metacomco Shell

Metacomco Toolkit

Modula 2

Textcraft

TV Text

Zuma Fonts

Imprint

,-- -~ «mO^' -te^ 1

Haba Systems Ltd.,

Call for a dealer pack

Pier Road, North Feltham Trading Estate,
Feltham, Middlesex, TW14 OTT

Tel: 01-844 1202 Telex: 934689 HABA G

Export enquiries welcome

/Reriem

Amiga

SUPERBASE

Personal

The long and anxious wait is over and
Precision Software's blockbuster
SUPERBASE is now available for the
AMIGA. This is the second applications
software release from a leading British
software house and in each case the
wait has been worthwhile. Make no mis-
take, SUPERBASE is destined to make
its mark in the AMIGA world for it is very
much a well disguised wolf in sheepfe
clothing. The version of SUPERBASE
for the AMIGA is far removed from its
namesake on the 8-bit generation of
Commodore machines. Not only is it
extremely fast in operation but SUPER-
BASE imposes very few limitations on
the user in terms of sizes of fields,
records and databases. Indeed, in
common with its predecessor any such
limitations are at the hardware level and
it is memory and storage space availabil-
ity that define the boundaries and not
the software. Examining the published
specifications and seeing figures like 16
million records/file, 999 indexes/file and
no limits on the number of files/data-
base or files/record seem to bear this
out. The other major feature of SUPER-
BASE is that it is now a fully relational
database — which means in simple
terms that any SUPERBASE or ASCII
file can be accessed and used irrespec-
tive of where it is located.

The product is supplied on a single
disk together with a dongle and a man-
ual that runs to over 200 pages. The
dongle fits into Port 2 and is used during
the loading cycle; the dongle supplied
with LOGISTIX can replace the
SUPERBASE during actual use, but not
during loading. In any event I found
both dongles to be totally innocuous on
my system and I only wish other soft-
ware houses would adopt this approach
when they feel that software protection
is necessary. The manual is written to
the usual exemplary standard under the
guiding hand of Dr. Bruce Hunt, an
acknowledged SUPERBASE expert and
provides the range and depth we have
come to expect from Precision Software
product manuals. There are three main
sections and no less than six appendi-
ces — the first section is a familiarisation
with SUPERBASE, the second section

serves as the core of the manual in terns
of using the product and also provides
no less than three tutorials! The final
section functions as a quick reference
guide to SUPERBASE. In the appendi-
ces are lists of error messages, ASCII
codes, reserved words, etc., as well as
details of the forthcoming SUPERBASE
Professional product. This featues a
complete programming language, word
processor and applications builder,
in the selected direction very quickly
and when I say quickly I mean like fast.

Looking at the menu structure there
will be many database users particularly
8-bit SUPERBASE users wondering
what half these functions are for. If you
are new to relational databases then the
feeling of bewilderment is probably
quite natural. However, the manual cov-
ers these points with both clarity and
examples and after a few hours use you
begin to appreciate the width and depth
of this software. The first point that
strikes the newcomer is ease of con-
structing a database. This brings into
effect the many requestor panels which
are very simple to use, in most cases
rendering the presence of the manual
unnecessary. Error trapping on these
panels is fundamental to the whole sys-
tem and I found it impossible to get the
software to fall over by attempting to
input character data into a numeric
field. Everything other than actual data
entry within SUPERBASE is founded on
the use of the mouse. This makes for
some very slick operation by an expe-
rienced mouse user and once more the
robustness of the software is checked
by keeping ahead of the screen with the
mouse.

The cassette or control buttons as
Precision term them are organised as
follows:

current next previous fast pause rewind
record record record forward

first last stop key lookup filter

record record record record set file

There are two major benefits stem-
ming from the use of a cassette recorder
interface. The first is the simplicity since
all users will be aware of the basic func-
tions of these, thus the product learning
urve is quite short. The second benefit
lies in ten speed of operation — press
the rewind button and the file is scrolled

The front-end. of SUPERBASE em-
ploys the familiar mechanism of a
cassette recorder. Thus we have such
components as fast-forward, rewind,
playback all encapsulated in a row of
buttons at that base of the screen. At
the top of the screen the reassuring
menu bar reminds the user that INTUI-
TION forms the other component of
SUPERBASE. The basic menu structure
appears as follows:

Project

Record

Process

New

New

File

Edit

Query

Index

Duplicate

Remove

Open

Remove

Import

File

Save

Export

Fields

Print

Index

Labels

Query

Close

File

Fields

Edit

Save

File

Query

Remove

File

Index

Quit

The range of control over the data
given by SUPERBASE is highly detailed.
Data can be displayed in either tabular,
record or form views with complete con-
trol over the number of fields to be

a

88 Commodore Computing June 1987

Cbxr/!iJvet)tMi'/i#' { i3

The Best in Amiga Software from

Precision Software

SUPERBASE PERSONAL

±!

iJ

PERSONAL

Designed to take full
advantage of the
Amiga Intuition
interface, Superbase
Personal is a real
breakthrough in ease of use. Use the
VCR style controls to view your data - fast forward, rewind,
pause or stop - it's easy as playing a tape. Yet Superbase
Personal is a full relational system for selecting and reporting
information from multiple files, giving you the power to handle
any data management application. You can even include
pictures!

Superbase Personal £149.95

PAGESETTER
AND LASERSCRIPT

PageSetter

With PageSetter, the

leading Amiga desk top

publishing software, you

can mix graphics and text

in a variety of styles and

fonts to create professional

quality reports, forms,

newsletters, flyers and

more! PageSetter includes

built-in text and graphics

editors, and can also work

with text and graphics produced by other programs. PageSetter

comes with an extensive library of drawings and illustrations.

LaserScripl is an optional PostScript-compatible module enabling

output to a wide range of laser printers.

Pagesetter £149.95 LaserScript £39.95

TRUE BASIC

ii

Ij'Pr^

JormG-^ eny

J

For fast, portable, compact

BASIC you need True BASIC!

Developed by Kemeny and

Kurtz, the original inventors of

BASIC, True BASIC offers full

portability across Amiga, MAC

and IBM PC. True BASIC follows

the ANSI standard for advanced

BASIC, supporting control

structures like SELECT CASE

and nested IF-THEN-ELSE.

Other features include matrix

^ w; „,.„*«- maths, on-line syntax checking,

multi-window full-screen editor, on-line

help and 2-D graphic transformations. With True

BASIC you can select from an expanding range of

optional programming libraries, including 3-D graphics and

advanced string functions.

True BASIC Language £149.95

True BASIC Runtime System £149.95

Language plus Runtime £249.95

Programming Libraries, each £49.95

CLIMATE

CLImate is an indispensable

Amiga utility, giving you the

power to perform CLI

operations under mouse

control. CLImate includes IW^^S^'^

batch operations for copying, ia ' s r r~£0!&

deleting, moving and printing

groups of files, with full ss»e*--

control over print format. You

can display files in ASCI I or HEX and format disks with

full control over formatting options. CLImate also

includes a "showpic" button for easy viewing of picture^

files.

CLImate

Pivcision
Softwaiv

Available from your local dealer or directly from
Precision Software Ltd., 6 Park Terrace,
Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7JZ
Telex: 8955021 Precis G Tel: 01-330 7166
Fax: 01-330 2089

Dealer enquiries welcome! a

All prices are inclusive of VAT

niCROIlEDIFt Commer

Supplies

0707 52698 or 0707 50913^™^™^

Dept. CCI.

Swivel Bases for Monitors }

Unbranded 5W Discs

Certified lifetime warranty
hub rings, envelope, labels
Prices par 1 Discs

10+ 30+ 50+

SS/DD 6.50 6.00 5.50

DS/DD 7.50 7.00 6.50

3M 5W Lifetime Guarantee
SS/DD 10.30 9.90 9.60
DS/DD 12.50 12.20 11.90

3M 3V4" Lifetime Guarantee
SS/DD 20.50 20.30 20.00
DS/DD 25.50 25.30 25.00

Unbranded %W Discs

SS/DD 17.00 16.00 15.00
DS/DD 19.00 18.00 17.00

Disc Care

Discs with 15ml cleaning solution
5W Head Cleaner 4.00

3'A" Head Cleaner 5.00

5W Disc Doubler

Utilise reverse side of single sided

discs

Accurate position guide £5.50

Dept. CCI.

Next day delivery available.

Please ask for details,

All prices inc. of P & P UK only,

Please add 15% VAT.

Pan fitt revolves around 360°
12.5° tiltable up and down
adjustable by front mechanism.

12' Monitors £12.00

t**% , 14" Monitors £15.00

Copy Holder

Adjustable with desk
clamping arm

£13.90

Printer Stand

For 80 column
printers

PRINTER RIBBONS

Mixed types for quantity breaks
1 off If ordered with other products

Dimensions 405 x 325 x 1 00mm

Made from 5mm

clear perspex £19.90

2+

CononPWl 156/1080 3.20

Red Brown Blue Green 4.70
Commodore
1516/1526/4023

MPS 802
2022/4022

Red Brown Blue Green
MPS 801

Red Brown Blue Green
Vic 1515/1525
DPS1101
MPS 1000

Red Brown Blue Green
MPS 803
Red Brown Blue Green

5+

2.70

4.20

2+
2.50
3.90

fp«onFX/MX/RX80
Red Brown Blue Green
KaoaKPB10/910
Red Brown Blue Green

3.80
2.80
4.00
3.70
4.90
2.80
2.30
2.80
4.00
3.50
4.95
2.80
4.00
3.20
4.70

2.40 220

3.30 3.10

3.10 2.90

4.60 450

2.30 2.10

1.90 1.70

2.40 220

3.30 3.10

3.00 2.80

4.65 4.25

2.40 2.20

3.30 3.10

2.70 2.50

4.20 3.90

ShlnwaCPSO 3.80 3.00 2.80

Star Gemini 1 Ox 15x 1.50 1.20 1.10

Red Brown Blue Green 2.40 2.00 1,80
K Itw ribbon you require I* not listed
ring 0707 32698 and lot us quote

Computer Paper

Plain, fanfold, micro pert edges

Weight 1 000's Price per box

gsm perboxlbox 2bxs+

60 2 14.40 13.60

80 2 17.80 16.30

70 2 24.00 21.30

90 1 15.20 12.70

Size
11x9',$

EXACT A4
ll%x9'/i

Computer Labels

Cont fanfold Price per 1000

Sprocketted 1,000 2,000+

70x36 4.20 3.80

89x36 4.30 3.90

89x49 5.90 5.30

Please state no of labels across sheets (1,
2 or 3)

MM 40

Disc Boxes

MM 100
MM 50
MM 80
MM 40

5%xl00
5'/4x50
3^x80
3'/!x40

11.70
8.70

11.90
8.50

All MM boxes anti-static with lock

□

24-Hour

Credit Card

Orders

0707 52698

The great
AMIGA
Cover
Up!

To: Commodore Business and Amiga User
40 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R ONE

I want you to rush me a special AMIGA cover. I enclose a |
cheque (sterling) for £16.45 (add £1 for postage outside
the U.K. and Ireland) made payable to 'Croftward Limited
Name

Address

Keep your AMIGA
protected with a
strong, top quality,
fire proofed cover.
Specially designed
for the AMIGA 1000,
it has a neat mouse
pocket to keep the
control device safe,
too. At only
£15.95 (plus 50pp&p)
its a great way to
keep dust and dirt off
jyour computer. When
you're not using it
[cover your AMIGA
up and keep it safe!

£16.45

Access I
Signature

T

The Best in Amiga Peripherals from

Precision Software

SUPRA HARD DRIVE

At last! A fast, reliable range of Amiga hard drives. Available with
20 or 60 MB capacities, the Supra Drive 4x4 features a real-time
clock with battery back up for time and date retention, a SCSI
expansion port to connect another hard disk, and the capability to
expand your system's RAM memory. The drive plugs onto the
Amiga's bus expansion connector and incorporates a proprietary
interface for burst data transfers of over 250 KB/sec. Other bus
devices can also be connected.

Supra 20 MB Hard Drive £699!

Supra 60 MB Hard Drive £1399!

MEGABOARD 2

Memory Expansion for the AMIGA™

'M

ror o '

MEGABOARD £

MegaBoard 2 is a reliable new low-cost 2 MB RAM expansion unit
which plugs onto the Amiga's bus expansion connector.
MegaBoard 2 comes fully populated and can be auto-configured
with AmigaDos Version 1 .2. One of the fast RAM units available,
MegaBoard 2 allows better use of memory oriented software
-Aegis Animator, Draw Plus, Deluxe Video, etc - and RAM disk
for fast copying and handling.

MegaBoard 2 MB RAM Expansion £449!

CHERRY A3 GRAPHIC TABLET

The ideal graphic tablet for

designers of every discipline, the

Cherry A3 Graphic Tablet's 548mm x 445mm

size, 0.1mm resolution and accuracy ot plus/minus

0.5mm make it suitable for the most demanding applications. Its eleganf yet robust UK

design includes both lightweight pen and "puck" with 4 colour keys and crosswired

lens. The proprietary Mouse Driver software enables the Amiga cursor to be driven

using either pen or puck, with the puck buttons emulating Amiga mouse buttons and

screen front/back gadgets.

Cherry A4 Graphic Tablet with Amiga Software £580.39
Serial Port Gender Changer for use with A1000 £1 4.95

EASYL PRESSURE-ACTIVATED
DRAWING PAD

Easyl incorporates unique

leading-edge technology to provide

an 8.5in x 13in pressure-activated surface.

Using an ordinary pencil you can capture a freehand

drawing or tracing with superb accuracy directly onto the

Amiga screen. Easyl performs with such popular programs as Deluxe Paint II and

PageSetter. You can draw with whatever colour, line width and brush your software

permits. Easyl comes complete with AmigaDos 1.2 compatible driving software and

connects to the bus expansion port.

Easyl Drawing Pad £399!

Available from your local dealer or directly from

Precision Software Ltd., 6 Park Terrace, Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7JZ

Telex: 895502 1 Precis G Tel: 1 -330 7 1 66 Fax: 1 -330 2089

Precision Dealer enquiries welcome!

Sol t ware

All prices are exclusive of VAT

Actual unretouched photos

VIEW

brings the world into your Amiga"!

W:

r ith Digi-View and a video camera,
your Amiga can see! Faces, logos,
artwork . . . anything you can imagine!
Simply point your camera and click the
mouse. In seconds, whatever the camera sees
is painlessly transformed into a computer
image that can be printed, stored on disk, or
transferred to other programs. Imagine how quickly and easily you
can generate stunning video art and animation when you start with
high quality digitized photographs or artwork.

Sophisticated software included with Digi-View makes it easy
to produce dazzling, broadcast-quality color images. Intuitive,
on-screen controls are as easy to use as the knobs on your T.V. set
Digi-View can capture images
in several modes, including
320x200 pixels with up to
4096 colors on screen ("hold-
and-modify" mode), and the
incredibly detailed 640x400
high resolution mode.

The key to Digi-
View 's incredible
color resolution is
this color separa-
tion filter which
attaches to your
black-and-white
or color video
camera. "

• IFF disk format works with Digi-Paint™, DeluxePaint™, DeluxeVideo™, DeluxePrint, Aegis Images™. Aegis Animator, and more

• Saves time! No more hours of freehand drawing and redrawing.

• Send photos over the telephone with your modem and terminal software.

• Capture images for scientific image processing or pattern recognition

• Spice up business graphics — slide show program included.

• Incorporate photos in posters and greeting cards.

• Use Digi-View pictures in your BASIC programs

• Catalog images with IFF database programs.

• Make red/blue 3D photos.

• A powerful tool for commercial graphic artists

Panasonic WV-1410 video camera w/lens
CS-1L Copy stand w/lights

Only

$199.95

includes video digitizer module,
color separation filter, software and manual.

Orders Only (800) 843 8934
Customer Service (913) 354-9332

NewIek

INCORPORATED

701 Jackson • Suite B3 • Topeka, KS • 66603

Amiga is a trademark of Commodore-Amiga. Inc. Digi-View and Digi-Paint are trademarks of NewTek, Inc. DeluxePaint. DeluxeVideo. and DeluxePrint are trademarks of Electronic Arts. Inc. Aegis Images and Aegis Animator a
trademarks of Aegis Development. Inc.

• Digi-View software version 2.0 (or newer) required to use color camera. For maximum resolution use monochrome camera with 2. 1 interlace. High-res color modes require 1 Meg expansion RAM.

® 1986 NewTek. Inc.

included and their length. Since
SUPERBASE is a full relational data-
base, fields from oter database files can
be included at the same time and this
new file so created can then be dis-
played, printed out or saved to disk.
Records displayed in table form can
have a width of 255 characters which
equatspdtetethree full screen widths.
Scrolling across is done by an INTUI-
TION scroll-bar at the base of the
screen. This form of display is useful in
situations where a large number of
records needed to looked en masse and
complete screens can be refreshed by
using the paging option.

DesignedBy < > Year < >

FireboxLen < >

FboxSurface< >TubeSurface < >
HtngSurface< > GratSurface< >
Barrel Len < >

TubeDimn < > BoilerDimn < >
TubeNo < > DiagramNo < >

Pitch <

external CylinderNo < >

Motion < >

CylDim < >

BuiltAt < >

Alternatively, fields can be left out of
the forms display where a record has
large number of attached fields — the
emphasis is firmly on flexibility when
using SUPERBASE. This type of display
is also used for data entry, thus the crea-
tion of ustion of customised forms is a

doddle. In fact, one method of operating
your database could be to have a master
file ready with every single field you are
likely to need and to draw from this as
and when necessary.

This facility of being able to draw in
data from other database files without
going through an import/export proce-
dure whereby the data is converted into
ASCII, is the difference between a rela-
tional database and a flat-file database.

The query function lies at the core of
SUPERBASE and is by far and away the
most sophisticated function available to
the user from the menus. It provides the
means of producing very closely con-
trolled formatted output from one or
more files to a high degree of visual
presentation. Query output can be sorted
in any order and include several fields
within the orderpart of the query. Thus
many levels of grouping and subtotals in
ascending ordescending order are feas-
ible — I warned you that SUPERBASE
was powerful! The output from query
can then be directed to screen, printer,
ASCII disk file or new database file.

CylinderNo O Cy1 Dim O Motion O

BoilerDimnO Pitch <> BarrelLenO

DiagramNoOFireboxLenO

FboxSurfaceO

TubeNoO> TubeDimnO

TubeSurfaceO

HtngSurface< > GratSurface< >

BoilerPress< >

BuiltAK > Year< > DesignedBy< >

In addition to purely character and
numeric data SUPERBASE can handle
visual data in the sense of video cap-
tured or drawn images. This allows the
user to build a pictorial database and
use the picture to enhance an existing
database containing factual data. I need
hardly state the applications that such a
facility offers — I will leave that to the
imagination of the reader. But such an
option places SUPERBASE at the fore-
front of database tecnnology on a per-
sonal computer. From my own position
as a technical writer, I can now cross-
index my articles with a picture of the
hardware item being discussed. This is
another tangible benefit from the estab-
lishment of a defined file format (IFF) for
the AMIGA. I suppose the next step
would be to have an audio equivalent,
for example a voice database. Not only
would a personnel record have details of
the person, but you could view a picture
of him and hear his voice!

Unfortunately on this occasion space
precludes any further examination of
the facilities offered by SUPERBASE.
There are many other aspects to this
product such as password protection of
files, multiple settings for date display,
input data range checking, label control
and definitions — it would take up the
rest of this magazi ne issue! It is obviously
essential to see a demonstration of
SUPERBASE. One word summed up
this product — power. SUPERBASE has
brought the power of relational data-
bases from the minicomputer level to
that of the personal computer. Not only
that, but Precision Software have also
made the very important translation in
terms of both operationa speed and
ease of use with complete success —
this is no mean achievement in itself.

Precision Software have put a lot of
resources behind this product, in both
development and technical support. I
was pleased to be invited to take part in
the beta testing of SUPERBASE and so I
know a little of the effort that went into
getting the product right first time. To
my mind all of this effort has succeeded
and not only is SUPERBASE the first
fully relational database to be launched
for the AMIGA, it is probably the defini-
tive AMIGA database. Precision Soft-
ware have clearly come up with yet
another winner.

Price: £130.39 + VAT

B.D.

Supplier: Precision Software Ltd, 6
Park Terrace, Worcester Park, Surrey
KT4.7JZ.
Tel: 01-330 7166.

Commodore Computing June 1987 93

//n$idefnfc>/

DAT

Recording
Revolution

Sony, Matsushita, Aiwa, Sharp,
JVC... names that dominate the
consumer electronics world. Japanese
companies, these and others, now
control 90% of world consumer elec-
tronics. MSX apart, when they decide to
bring a new product to the market, they
rarely fail. DAT — Digital Audio Tape
(see CCI April) looks like being the next
major step in the entertainment business
and may have effects elsewhere, such as
computing, too. Aiwa has called it The
greatest technical advance in the history
of home sound recording' — aphraseto
strike fear in the recorded music
industry.

As the word digital suggests, DAT
recorders use the binary language of
computers to store and reproduce
sound, a system which is almost com-
pletely immune to distortion, noise and
imperfections. The result is music
reproduction which equals or surpasses
the quality of compact discs. But DAT
can also erase and re-record. It is this
ability, according to the music industry,
which would allow wholesale copyright
infringement and undermine the music
business.

DAT machines should reach Europe
and the US by the autumn of this year.
At present they are to cost around £800
($1150). That is thought to be a tem-
porary price and likely to fall quickly to
the present cost of CD players —
around £175 ($280).

Like video cassette recorders, DAT
players have a rotating head which
reads the tape, VCRs read videotapes.
Its cassettes which are about half the
size of conventional compact cassettes,
look like any tiny video cassettes they
are almost entirely enclosed by their
plastic case. The tape itself is based on
the same magnetic metal powder

material used in conventional cassettes.

Although the close-box design of the
cassette will protect it from fingers and
dust, DAT by nature is more vulnerable
to deterioration than the compact disc
(CD). This is because the DAT player's
rotary head is in constant contact with
the tape while compact discs are
touched only by the laser beam which
reads the pre-recorded music on the
disc.

This reason, plus the current popu-
larity of CD players and their lower
price, leads the industry to predict that
DAT will not supplant CD sales, at least
not for many years. Manufacturers say
DAT will replace analogue recorders
and widen that market. Aiwa forecasts
that DAT will enlarge Japan's domestic
sales of tape recorders fivefold by the
mid-1990s.

Although the cassette is mini-sized,
the DAT deck is not. Aiwa's is 43cm by
42cm and weighs 11kg. The cassette is
loaded by means of a front tray which
automatically rejects an improperly
loaded cassette.

A rotating head, or drum, has two
smaller heads located on either side.
When one of these heads is not in
contact with the tape, audio signals are
retained in the machine's memory.
When contact is made, the signals are
recorded.

The speed of the tape is 8.15mm per
second, which is about one-sixth that of
an ordinary analogue compact cassette.

It is planned to incorporate a "copy
inhibit" system in DAT recorders. This is
included in one of the LSI (Large Scale
Integrated) chips and supposedly pre-
vents direct digital to digital copying of
CDs. However the LSI containing the
'copy inhibit' could be replaced by a
different chip and nullify the inhibition.

Sony is already putting into produc-
tion a DAT duplication system to allow
up to 50 slave DAT recorders connected
to a CD mastering system.

The international music industry

already under substantial pressure as

the home duplication of cassettes

reaches horrendous proportions —

reputedly 5 cassettes for every one sold

— is fighting what looks to be an

unsuccessful rearguard action against

DAT in the US and the EEC. It wants to

see 'spoilers' not inhibitors included by

law. The US and EEC authorities have

so far shown no interest in getting

involved.
At present the cassette will record two

hours of music, although Japanese

engineers expect that capacity to

expand to six hours. DAT also offers a

large subcode capacity, which means

that information other than music can

be put on the tape. This information,

which includes the number of pieces of

music and where a song or speech

begins and ends, will allow the user to

do simple programming of his or her

tape. Matsushita's machines, for

example, can programmeand play up to

99 selections in any order of play.

All the DAT machines also have a
mechanism called Skip ID, which allows
the consumer to programme a tape of,
say, a radio programme, by skipping
over all the narration and commercials.

DAT also has an intro-play function,
which allows the listener to hear the first
eight seconds of each song on the tape.
DAT's dynamic range, which measures
the sound range from the lowest to
highest tone, is 90 decibels. This is
slightly higher than that of CDs. The
average listener, however, would not
notice any appreciable difference
between CD and DAT's sound quality.

A.M.

94 Commodore Computing June 1987

THE^AMIGA SPECIALIST

it A500 AND A2000

it FULL RANGE OF PERIPHERALS

it FULL RANGE OF SOFTWARE

it RGB CONVERTERS

it ONSIGHT MAINTENANCE FOR

A2000
it TRAINING COURSES

Phone for details
TRIANGLE TELEVISION ^ (

130 BROOKWOOD ROAD Jjg^

LONDON SW18 S88

Tel: 01-874 3418

JUMPDISK

THE MONTHLY AMIGA MAGAZINE
ON DISK

EVERY ISSUE HAS AT LEAST TEN READY
TO RUN PROGRAMMES AND TEN ARTICLES
THE MA Y ISSUE IS NOW A VAILALBLEIN THE UK

THIS MONTHS PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE

PULLDOWN MENU MANAGEMENT FOR BASIC PROGRAMMES

KNIGHTS TOUR: THAT ANCIENT PUZZLE

CYCLES: ARCADE GAME

PLUS BALLISTICS: FOR RELOADERS AND MANY MORE

IN THE ARTICLE SECTION WE PROVIDE AN AMIGABASIC

QUICK REFERENCE CHART, EXPLAIN HOW SEEILBM-SHOWILBM

WORK AND LOOK AT THE ART FORM OF ICONOGRAPHY

ALL ARTICLES MAY BE PRINTED, SPOKEN OR
READ FROM SCREEN

£8.50

PLEASE SEND CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER MADE PAYABLE TO:

GEORGE THOMPSON SERVICES LTD., OLD REIGATE ROAD,

BETCHWORTH, SURREY RH3 7DR. TEL: 073 784 4675

PRICE INCLUDES VAT AND P&P WITHIN UK.

THE APRIL ISSUE IS STILL AVAILABLE AT £8.50

PROGRAMMES INCLUDE DESK CALENDAR,

BLACKJACK IN HI-RES WITH SPEECH, AN APRIL

FOOL TO IMPRESS AND THE ARCADE GAME BEAM

BUSTER PLUS ARTICLES ON SIDECAR, GRABBIT,

AN UPDATE ON DPSLIDE AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

COMSPEC K

. 1 53 Bridgeland Ave. , Unit #5
Toronto, Ontario Canada. M6A 2Y6
[416)787-0617

N#W 2W K NOW OHtf

VAT)

... UK DISTRIBUTOR

Precision Software Ltd.

6 Park Terrace
Worcester Park
Surrey KT4 7JZ

01-3307166

t-TALK

Communication and Terminal Program

. KERMIT - XMODEM - XMODEM/CRC - ASCII.
. FULL VT100/VT52/H19/ANSI/TTY emulations.
. Script language. 20 function keys. CB mode.

• •Concurrent printing and capture. Voice option.

A-TaVUK PLUS

Tektronix 4010/4014 Graphics Emulation

. ALPHA/GRAPH/GIN standard modes, plus en-
hanced graphics POINT PLOT and INCREMEN-
TAL PLOT.

. All vector formats. Screen size up to 704 by 470
(NTSC systems) and 704 by 582 (PAL systems).
Zoom and Pan. Retrographics VT640 support.

• Four character sizes. Printer support. Store
screens in Deluxe Paint II, Aegis Draw or PLOT-
10 format. All A-TALK features supported.

A-TALK lists for US $49.95. A-TALK PLUS lists for
US $99.95. $2.00 shipping ($10.00 Overseas).

Feisina Software

3175 South Hoover Street, #275

Los Angeles, CA 90007

(213) 747-8498

MiAmiga File
Version Version 1 1

The original version of this popular
database for the AMIGA A1000 was
reviewed in the October 1986 issues of
this magazine. Hot on its heels and
taking full advantage of release v.1.2 of
Workbench comes MiAmiga File version
II. The differences between these two
versions run to no less than 24
enhancements and are significant
enough to meritafurther examination of
this product. Many of these differences
have also been initiated as a result of
user feedback to the supplier through
experience in the field.

MiAmiga File is a flat-file database
using many of the elements of Intution
for ease of use and accelerated learning
and acceptance by the user. These
elements include a display based on the
concepts of screens and windows
together with usage of the mouse to
select choices through gadgets and
requestors.

The database directory now provides
details of the individual file sizes in bytes
and date of last access, the directory
window also scrolls in either direction
under control of the mouse. Scrolling
from end to end of a long database file
has speeded up considerably — another
direct benefit of v1.2 Workbench. Drive
path setting is made very much easier
with direct support for hard disks, RAM
drive and floppy drives beyond the df1:
unit.

The introduction of a mail-merge
facility now means that data is fully
portable between applications since it
can now be sent to the disk in ASCII
format. The control over the format is
complete and extends to record
sequence and selection criteria — data-
base reports can also be written to the
disk as ASCII files. The ASCII files are
specifically designed to engage cleanly
with those of SCRIBBLE!, the current
leader in word processors for the A1 000.
The We save function has been simpli-
fied and the user does not have to name
the file if it is already open and in use.

On the original version of MiAmiga
File the printing from the form Wewonly
produced a 5 line mailing label, this has
been increased — indeed the only
restrictions that pertain to labels are

largely those limitations imposed by the
printer in use. Overflowing of columns
on the printer is handled by printing the
residual data on the following line
correctly formatted. The whole printer
output function has been considerably
enhanced.

The file status function is improved
and the 'Desk' view shows the record
and file size as well as how much room is
remaining on the users selected storage
device. The potentially disastrous situa-
tion of overflowing a disk is avoided
through the introduction of a recovery
routine. This will either delete user-
selected files since file deletion from
within a database is now permissible or
request a move to another drive unit.
Similarly, a database file can be renamed
from within a database. The mouse
pointer have been changed — there are
now 3 to indicate the current user
action. A further example of the user-
friendliness is shown by the automatic
addition of the file type suffix for a newly
created database.

A further demonstration of the stream-
lining and resulting increase in user
productivity is given by the repeat
facility during data entry — this allows
multiple re-entry of the same data over
any number of records. A completely
new feature of MiAmiga File is the
introduction of a new field type —
calculated amount fields. These permit
arithmetic manipulations using the +, -,
* and / operators which can also be
tested using parenthesis for complex
calculations.

I had previously mentioned the crea-
tion and exportof ASCII files, MiAmiga
File now can import or accept data in
ASCII form from external sources. The
format of this is CSV — comma
separated values which most spread-
sheets and databases are capable of
generating.

One particular feature that appealed
to me as a user of an expanded A1000
was the ability to designate the type and
amount of memory MiAmiga File could
use. In the original version of this
product the antisocial attribute of
claiming all of avaialble memory could
lead to the inability to run other

programs. This new version allows the
user to select a percentage of available
memory (50%, 75% or 100%) and this
can be taken from either video display
memory or expansion memory. This has
particular implications for those users
running sound or graphics software at
the same time.

Another good feature was the screen
dump option — always useful when
designing the field structures of a
database. This was enhanced by the
ability to save and retrieve label and
report screen formats and print these
out using this screen dump option.

The feedback from users, particularly
those from outside the USA has been
acted upon and the data, numeric and
currency formats have been interna-
tionalised. This means that users are no
longer restricted to the USA date format
of month-day-year which could be very
confusing when in complete numeric
form or tied to the use of the $ symbol for
currency values. British users can have
the pounds Sterling symbol appear in
their files and those users in other
countries now have access to the 14
other currency symbols contained
within the A000 keyboard.

This is a clear indication that at least
one USA software producer is prepared
to listen and respond to the wishes of
users. Although I have been critical of
some USA products in the past, and will
continue to be so to those who forget
that there is life beyond the eastern
confines of the Atlantic Ocean, MiAmiga
File no longer belongs to those ranks.

Here is a product that can be described
as truly international and coupled with
the substantial enhancements has
flowered intoastrong, sparkling product
that amply displays the spirit of the
AMIGA. Still the best flat-file database
for this machine by a large margin.

B.D.

Price: £99.95

UK Distributor: Haba Systems Ltd., Pier
Road, North Feltham Trading Estate,
FELTHAM, Middlesex TW14 0TT. Tel:
01-751 6451.

96 Commodore Computing June 1987

Any car enthusiast can tell you that a performance auto is made up of many parts. Each individual piece must be high-performance for the complete car to
be high-performance. For example, a car that can do well in excess of 1 50mph would be very limited by tires that were only rated for 80mph. The same is
true with your Amiga™ Computer. The Amiga is a very high-performance computer, but can be severely limited by the speed of its floppy disk drives.
Much of the time, your computer sits there idling while loading data from the disk. This also makes you idle and greatly decreases your productivity.

Now you can turbo-charge your Amiga with a SupraDrive HardDisk and bring it up to its true performance. SupraDrive will speed up disk transfers by up to
800% and also eliminate the tedious task of constantly swapping diskettes in and out of your floppy drive. The performance of your Amiga will be enhanc-
ed in many ways; directories, icons, and graphics will appear much faster, programs will load quicker, and the general user interface will seem much
better.

A SupraDrive, much like a European sports car, includes many subtle features that greatly enhance its value. The built-in real-time clock will remember
the current time and date, even when you turn your computer off- eliminating the need to set the system's clock every time you use your computer.
Expanding your RAM memory is much cheaper and easier with the 51 2K to 4MB SupraRam modules that can be quickly installed in the SupraDrive inter-
face. Other expansion is also easy with the Amiga Buss pass-through on the SupraDrive and the built-in SCSI port (for adding another hard disk or tape
back-up).

■ 20, 30, and 60MB Hard Disks

■ Real-time Clock with Battery Back-up

■ SCSI Expansion Port and Amiga Buss pass-through

■ 51 2K to 4MB RAM expansion capability

■ Only $995.00 for 20MB version

Increase the performance of your Amiga. Add a SupraDrive.

^Amiga is a trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.

Supra Corporation

11 33 Commercial Way / Albany, OR 97321 USA
Phone: (503)967-9075 / Telex: 5106005236 (Supra Corp.)

™SupraDrive is a trademark of Supra Corp.

±!

Precision
Software

U.K. Distributor

Precision Software Limited

6 Park Terrace
Worcester Park
Surrey KT4 7JZ ENGLAND
Telephone: 01-330 7166
Telex: 8955021 PRECIS G

'Renews

Mean 18 by Accolade

Rumours of a great golf game on
the Amiga have been around for
some time. The imagination has
worked on all the wonders that "
Amiga is capable of being set down
on the golf course and if you've ever
watched those professionals
making it look so easy and found
when you got out on the course, it
was the devil's own invention — i
have — then you just ached for th
chance to practice in the privacy of
your own home before the usual
public humiliation. I know what golf
can do to normally civilised people.
I once took a terrific girl out to play
golf and saw her end by throwing a
club a long way into the trees in
fury at her inability to hit the ball
straight. I didnt mind searching
the club but it was being bin*"' - '
it all far bringing her to the
in the first place that got me. I
wonder what ever happened
to her...

If

Mean 18 . . .the very sound of the

name expresses it. This is a real
mean game and, in my view, the
best sports simulation on the Amiga
or any other 16 bit machine.
Accolade who are known for their
ability in this field have outdone
their usual high standards here.

As is usual in these golf suns, you
can play up to four players. You
also have four courses St Andrews,
Augusta, Pebble Beach and a
fictitious course called Bush Hill.
There is no copy protection for the
good reason that Accolade advises
you copy the courses on to another
disk which will save you time and
trouble. It uses virtually all the 512K
so you see the amount of detail
Accolade have built into it.

It has a tremendous variety of
options that make it virtually
inexhaustable in the possibilities
you could have to take a untried
challenge each time. It has
different tees for the varying levels
of expertise. The beginner, for
example gets perfect aim every
time but when you move up the
scale it leaves you on your own to
work out club and so on. There is
nearly always a wind that you have
to allow for and that really — and
enjoyable — complicates matters. It
even has an apparently genuine
response to your ball if it hits a tree.
It will either ricochet back towards
you at a random angle (if you hit a
solid brown or black part of the
tree) or go through the branches of
the tree and be slowed down and
come out sideways also along a
random angle.

■J

■' " ' ^^ ! l

u

cz

- •

\ ;

"'^^&4

msmmm

Iff^l

'-^mrw^m

and with the multiple play option
you can vary the order or play —
furthest away play first, finishing
the putt etc as in real life golf. You
can click on your overview of the
hold at any time, or if you havent
time to finish a round, save it to disk
for future.

As in Ariolasoffs Golf
Construction Set, you can junk all
the courses — another good reason
for copying them first — and then
construct your own. You can either
change the course in a few aspects,
like modifying the trees or bushe<

or really go to town and make your
own course. If you do make a mess
of the whole thing, and spoil the
disk, do not despair. Accolade will
supply you with a back up copy for
$10.

Golf, like snooker, has become
really big business because of TV.
The simplicity of the actions of the
game — which of course requires
terrific delicacy and talent to play
well — is ideally suited to the small
screen. Mean 18 is the closest I
have seen to the real thing on TV
with the tremendous advantage that
you are not watching but playing it
yourself. I don't see anybody
getting tired of Mean 18. There will
always be another variation you
can make. That's if you can master
even the more basic levels. I found
Mean 18 was exactly the right
of ease of use and the
agement of letting you get
close to being good and that
special magnetism that works when
its always just a bit harder than you
think it is going to be to get down in
the par for the hole. So you want to
try the next hole and the next to get
that much better. The graphics are
no 'Defender of the Crown' and
what can you do with sound on a
golf course? But I think Mean 18 is
going to be a classic and it must be
the one game that every Amiga
user will want to play — again and
again and again. *c

Hit

- tar* to «<*

m

98 Commodore Computing June 1987

THEBARBARIAN
HASARRIVED!

THE TERRORPODS
ARECOMINO!

TWO GREAT NEW TIRES FROM PSYGNOSIS

Jgyr^&r~' \^^jjKr

BARBARIAN

Can you become Hegor the famous
dragon-slaying, monster-mangling
Barbarian?

Are you the warrior who can enter
the fearful realms of the underground
world of Durgan, a world terrorized
by the evil Necron?
Can you handle the adventure, the
frenzied attacks, the hidden traps, the
gruesome death dealing monsters?...
Your quest; to destroy the lair of the
accursed Necron. Your prize; the
kingdom's crown.

Your task is awesome! You must live
on your wits, conquer your innermost
fears, use every skill and weapon
available to you.
Hideous perils await. Can you
survive?...

Are you Hegor the famous dragon-
slaying, monster-mangling Barbarian?
512k colour versions available for Atari
ST and Commodore Amiga - colour
monitors only.

TERRORPODS

Its been a long watch... As the
disappears over the horizon, the
uninviting, grey bleakness of Colian
becomes apparent. Following the
intense heat of the day, the onset of
night adds the bitterness of sub-zero
temperatures to an already hostile
environment, and the stark interior of
the D.5.V. appears almost homelike.
Deep melancholy is suddenly smashed
by the shrill scream of a siren. The
status panel has gone crazy, an
extrordinary array of lights flash
uncontrollably. Good grief. ..what's
happening?

Frantically, you turn to look at the
command scanner, hunting through
the mass of information before you, in
a desperate attempt to decipher what
has happened.

Your whole being freezes ... It can't be!
TheTerrorpods...

512k colourversionsavailable for Atari
ST and Commodore Amiga - colour
monitors only.

ARENA

The classic sports simulation.

BRATACCAS

Become Kyne the earth scientist
accused of genetic fraud.

DEEP SPACE

The ultimate interstellar war game.

512k colour versions available for Atari
ST and Commodore Amiga - colour
monitors only.

► BARBARIAN

£24.95

► TERRORPODS

£24.95

► DEEP SPACE

£34.95

► BRATACCAS

£34.95

► ARENA

£29.95

► ARENA BRATACCAS

£34.95

I N

B

Psygnosis

FREEPOST

Liverpool L3 3AB

United Kingdom

Tel. Nos.

051 647 8118 (Daytime)

051 227 4800 (After hours)

E V I N <

N>j roe* ie wm WSaEm ^^^^

"jlO*-' W „n fun filled space
adventure wjn js n0 w avarfa slon .

^ta^jt

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EUROPEAN

DISTRIBUTOR

Systems Limited

Pier Road, North Feltham Trading Estate, Feltham, Middlesex TW14 OTT

T«l. A-l TC 1 £2 A C I T— .1— .. rlliCOnUADA f+

ADD A MEGABYTE OF RAM TO YOUR AMIGA!

* Fast RAM — No Wait States.

•k Fully Auto Configuring with the 1.2 Operating System.

* Self-contained — needs no extra cables or disks.
-k Bus Passthrough to allow further expansion.

£399.00 inc. VAT
DIGIVIEW, THE SPECTACULAR VIDEO DIGITT5ER
UNIT

* Captures images from a Mono or Colour Camera (not supplied).

* Resolves over 2 million colours using a unique filtering system.

* Display and Save your pictures using any Amiga screen mode, including the famous 4096 Colour HAM mode.

* Once captured, pictures can be enhanced or altered with other Paint programs.

£199.00 inc. VAT
SSI, THE STEREO SOUND DIGITTSER

•k True Stereo sound sampling and editing.

* Variable sample rates to allow high quality sound and speech.

* Friendly software displays the sound as graphics to allow easy editing.
•k The best value digitiser available.

COMING SOON - DIGIPAINT - HAM PAINT PROGRAM

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME

Software Houses - phone for our special developer deals.

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SOFTWARE

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COMPUTER SYSTEMS LTD

EVERYTHING FOR THE AMIGA

AMIGA SHOP

A500, A1000, A2000 —^

WE ARE THE SPECIALISTS!

SOFTWARE - HARDWARE - PRINTERS - MONITORS - CABLES - DISKS - BOOKS - ACCESSORIES - ETC.

AMIGA MAIL ORDER - WE ARE THE FASTEST - PHONE (021-328 3585)

AMIGA SHOWROOMS - WE HAVE THE LARGEST - 9.30 to 5.30 - 6 DAYS A WEEK

AMIGA SOFTWARE - WE HAVE THE BEST!! - UK AND USA - IMPORTED

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PHONE: 021-328 3585

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR LATEST PRICE LIST

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{/inside /nfc) ,

THE AMIGA

As many new readers and
AMIGA users start finding
the magazine they often
come across AMIGA terms
they do not understand.
We have put together this
A-Z of the likely words
and expressions they
might find useful. We
intend — space permitting
— to update it sporadically.

depth-arrangement gadget

A gadget in the top right-hand corner of
a window which moves the window in
front or behind another window.

destination file

The file that is being written to.

device name

AuniquenamegivenbyAmigaDOStoa
hardware device e.g. DF1 : is floppy disk
drive number 1.

digital-to-anaiogue converter

A device that converts a binary quantity
to an analogue level.

direct memory access

An arrangement where intelligent devi-
ces can read or write to memory without
any involvement of the processor.

directory

A collection of files on a disk.

disable

To make something unavailable for use.

display

To produce a graphic object on the
monitor screen.

display field

A complete movement of the video
beam from the top to the bottom of the
monitor screen.

display memory

The area of RAM that contains the data
for translation into a screen image.

display mode

One of the basic types of display such as
low resolution, high resolution, inter-
lace, non-interlace and dual or sigle
playfield.

display time

The amount of time to produce one dis-
play field, approximately 1/60th of a
second.

AtoZ

DMA

Direct Memory Access.

double-click

To twice quickly press and release a
mouse button.

double-menu requestor

A requestor that can be opened by a
double-click of the mouse button.

drag

A method of moving a screen image by
selecting it and maintaining the pres-
sure on a mouse button whilst moving
the mouse the image follows.

drag gadget

The area of a screen or window that is
used for selecting and moving the
image.

dual playfield mode

A display mode that gives two separ-
ately controlled displays simultaneously.

editing commands

Commands that are input from the key-
board and control an editing session.

edit menu

A menu used for text processing con-
taining editing functions.

enable

To make something available for use.

EXEC

Low level primitives that support the
AmigaDOS operating system.

extended mode

Commands that appear on the Amiga-
DOS command line and are not exe-
cuted until the user has finished with the
command line.

extended selection

A method of selecting more than one
item from a menu.

file

A collection of related data.

filename

A name given to file for identification.

fill

Putting a colour or pattern into an
enclosed area.

flag

The action of detecting a change of
state of an object. Usually a binary bit.

font

A design common to a set of letter char-
acters or numbers.

Fortran

FORmula TRANslator. An old, but well
established high level language used
mainly by the scientific and engineering
communities. A huge range of pro-
grams has been written in this language.
Now available for the AMIGA.

frequency

The number of times persecond a wave-
form repeats.

frequency modulation

A means of changing sound quality by
using one audio channel to affect the
period of the waveform produced by
another channel. Frequency modula-
tion increases or decreases the pitch of
the sound.

gadget

An image of a control device within a
screen, window or requestor which is
used to communicate between the user
and the machine.

Genlock

A hardware device that allows the cap-
ture or release of video tape frames for
graphic reworking in the AMIGA itself.

ghost

An image which is made slightly indis-
tinct by overlaying it with a pattern to
indicate it is not enabled or active.

ghost shape

The outline of window that shows briefly
when the user is resizing or dragging the
window.

Gimmezerozero window

A window with a separate bit-map for
the window border.

header file

A file used at the beginning of a C lan-
guage compilation sequence which
includes the definitions and constants,
etc.

high resolution

A display mode which has 640 pixels per
horizontal line when this line is a full
screen width.

102 Commodore Computing June 1987

COAP7NU&> 6*/pA6£ /Oil-

THE MDU HOME CONTROL SYSTEM

HOME CONTROL SYSTEM v2.0

Security and Control of from £375.00
Home or Office, Hardware + VAT

and Software

NETWORK INTERCHANGE UNIT

Provides 2 series Ports £275

and 'GENLOCK' control + VAT

from AMIGA serial Port

HOME CONTROL SYSTEM
REMOTE CONTROL OPTION

Intelligent modem for £450

worldwide control of + VAT

premises

LITTLE BRIDGE HOUSE, DANEHILL, SUSSEX RH17 7JD
TEL. 10825) 790294

MDR

NTOMCESLn)

AMIGA VIDEO

* A8600 pal Video controller (genlock

£430 + VAT

* Pro-Video CG1 pal titling software

£149 + VAT

* VD3 realtime pal Video digitizer

£699 + VAT

* SCSI hard disk interface unit for the
A1000 £299 + VAT

*Complete 20 megabyte SCSI hard disk
system for the A1 000 £799 + VAT

* Official European Technical Journal
'Kickstart' for the AMIGA £25.00 + VAT

set of six issues

* Software developers kit for the AMIGA

£599 + VAT

ARIADNE SOFTWARE LTD \—

W-

E
Computer Software Consultants

273 Kensal Road
London W10

01-960 0203

W/AMIGA

IN THE -NORTH-WEST

GRANTHAMS specialize in

commercial graphic applications

for AMIGA including available

software, plotters, & image

input devices for the designer

printer and draftsman

GRANTHAMS

Design & Reprographic Equipment

I72 Corporation St Preston

Tel' 0772 50207

/IMfM /)-Z COMT/Miep

A technique of gadget selection where
the gadget becomes deselected on re-
lease of the mouse button.

hold-and-modify

A display mode which effects an increase
in the number of vertical screen display
lines allowing the user to display up to
4096 colours.

horizontal blanking interval

The interval after the video beam has
finished displaying one line and has not
begun displaying another line.

hue

The characteristic of a colour deter-
mined by the position of the colour in
visible spectrum.

icon

A visual representation of an object in
the Workbench.

IDCMP

Intuition Direct Communications Mes-
sage Port. The main pathway of user
communication with Intuition.

immediate mode

AmigaDos commands that execute
immediately.

initiallise

To set up an Intuition component with
default parameters.

input event

The message created by the input
device whenever is detected at one of
the AMIGA'S input ports.

interlace

A vertical display mode where there are
400 vertical screen lines from the top to
the bottom.

IntuitMessage

The input message created by Intuition
for applications programs.

Intuition

A visual and interactive meeting point
between the user and the machine.

joystick

A controller device that freely rotates
and swings from right to left, pivoting
from the bottom of the shaft and used to
position something on the screen.

keymap

A translation table used by the Console
Device to change keycodes into normal
ASCII character codes.

keyword

Arguments to AmigaDOS commands
that must be stated explicitly.

knob

Part of a proportional gadget which the
user sets to a value.

library

A collection of pre-defined routines or
functions that can be called and used by
any program.

light pen

A controller device consisting of a stylus
and used for drawing an image on the
screen.

line windows

Parts of a line for AmigaDOS EDIT to
execute subsequent commands on.

linked list

A collection of like objects linked by
having a pointer variable in one con-
taining the address of the next object,
the final object in the chain will carry a
null pointer.

LISP

LISt Processing. A symbolic program-
ming language used for expert systems
and artificial intelligence research. Now
available for the AMIGA.

long word

68000 assembly language syntax for a
32-bit value.

low resolution

A display mode which has 320 pixels per
horizontal line when this line is a full
screen width.

^f^fi^f^^m^ffp^in^ £&&

AMIGA?

THE LANGUAGES AND TOOLS YOU NEED ARE HERE - FROM MeTACOMCO, THE AUTHORS OF AmIGaDoS

JMACR0 ASSEMBLERS

Professional macro assembler, this is
THE assembler package for the Amiga
Standard 68000 mnemonics, macro
expansions over 160 explicit error mes-
sages, fully formatted listings, large
range of directives, absolute, position
independent or relocatable code and con-
ditional assembly.

£69.95

AMIGA SHELL==~=«=~~

An enhanced command line interpreterto
ease and speed up your development
cycle. Contains Unix like features such as
Command Line History, Command Line
Editor, Aliases, Variables and Push and
Pop directories. Also full documentation
of Amiga CLI commands is provided.

£49.95

"If you do any programming you must buy Shell"
.EXE -Jan 1987

LATTICE Cv.3.10

Enhanced C compiler, assembler and
linker, now with more library functions
and includes text management utilities.

£189.95

A feature packed Developer's version is
also available which includes the above
compiler, Make utility, screen editor and
symbolic debugger. £299.95

MCC PASCAL ===

A fast and efficient ISO validated Pascal
compiler generating native code, com-
prehensive error handling, 32 bit IEEE
format floating point and full 32 bit

integers.

£89.95

"The definitive Pascal compiler for the Amiga"
Amiga User- Dec. 1986

CAMBRIDGE LISP

An integrated LISP interpreter and com-
piler providing a complete Artificial
Intelligence development environment
with rational arithmetic, trig functions,
floating point arithmetic, vectors, inte-
gers of any size and much more.

£149.95

"One of the most advanced LISP systems I have
ever seen" Amiga World - Feb. 1986

AMIGA TOOLKIT ~E=E~==i

An invaluable suite of program develop-
ment utilities. Includes Disassembler,
Pipes, Librarian, Pack and Unpack,
Browse and AUX CLI. A package
designed by the authors of AmigaDOS to
extend the power of the operating system.

£39.95

"Likely to become one of the most used programm-
ing aids for the machine"

Your Commodore - Feb 1987

nETRcorco

26 Portland Square, Bristol BS2 8RZ, UK.
Telex: 444874 METAC0 G Fax: (0272) 428618

© METACOMCO 1987

MAILORDER HOTLINE (0272) 428781

104 Commodore Computing June 1987

DATEL BRINGS YOU THE MOST POWERFUL,

MOST FRIENDIff, AND MOST

UP TO THE MINUTE DISK

COPIER AVAILABLE...

THE

Marauder 11

TOTAL BACKUP SYSTEM IS HERE . . .

Marauder II is the most
powerful copier ever produced
for Amiga. It will auto-
matically copy ALL * software
released to date , and it
requires no hardware
modification of any kind.
It produces completely
unprotected copies of most
Amiga software faster and
better than any other copier.

No other copier can copy
as much software as
Marauder II.

Marauder II also has the most
advanced user interface your
money can buy. If you have
an Amiga you already know
how to use Marauder II. You
never have to reboot your
machine to use Marauder II, it
is completely compatible with

the Amiga's multitasking
operating system.

Marauder II has been designed
with your future needs in
mind. As protection schemes
change you can update the
program yourself with our
unique "Strategy Files."
The Strategy Files are
developed as new software is
released so that you can get
them quickly and easily when
you need them.

Compare the features of
Marauder II to our
competition and you'll see
that Marauder II is quite
simply the best copier you can
get, at any pricel And for only
£29.99 you can rest assured
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damage, loss or theft.
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□ Unbeatable with Periodic "Stately
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Q Mouse driven throughout - most
friendly to use.

□ Runs from workbench or C.L.I.

□ Makes multiple copies from one
original - upto 4 simultaneously

□ Even decrypts most encoded
programs including D. Print/Video/
Paint/n etc., etc.

□ Supports 1 to 5 drives.

AVAILABLE NOW!

*In our most recent tests we could not find
any software that Marauder II could not
backup.

With GRABBIT you can capture
exactly what you see on your screen
in an instant, regardless of what
programs you're running. GRABBIT
works with all video modes,
Including "Hold and Modify."
What's more, GRABBIT runs
completely in the background,
transparent to your other software.
GRABBIT is always ready for you to.
use, even when you're in the middle
of another program. As if that is not
enough, GRABBIT requires only
about 10K RAM to operate, and it
supports dozens of printers.
GRABBIT is truly a productivity
cower tool for your AMIGA!

GRABBIT is far superior to other
screen-printing "programs" because
of its small size and quick
performance. No complicated setup is
required, just install and go! Also,
GRABBIT doesn't require the screen
to remain visible during printing or
saving, and stopping the print
operation is as easy as starting it.

GRABBIT supports aU standard
Amiga printer drivers. GRABBIT also
supports fuU color printing.

In addition to GRABBIT 's printing
capabilities, the package also
includes a powerful utility program
"ANYTIME." The ANYTIME bonus

program is a "Preferences" style
palette requester that aUows you to
change any colors of any screen,
anytime! With ANYTIME, you are
NOW capable of customizing all
colors to match your printer's
hardcopy to the screen's colors.

Once you start using GRABBIT and
the bonus program ANYTIME you
will want it on every disk. You get
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Now a Midi Interface for your
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AMIGA

Software Systems available for

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Advertisements are expscted to conform to rules and standards
l laid down by the Advertising Standards Authority. Most do.
The few that don't we'd like you to write in about.

And if you'd like a copy of these rules for press, poster and
cinema advertisements, please send for our booklet. It's free.

The Advertising Standards Authority
We'rehere to put it right

/

ASA Ltd.. Dept. Y, Brook House. Tornngton Place. London WC1E7HN

The Nottingham
68000 Centre

For a complete range of software, hardware

& peripherals for the Amiga, ST & QL go to

the

Nottingham 68000 Centre

Products include:

CAD, Graphics & Animation, Games,

General Business Graphics & Sound

Digitizers, Modems, Music etc.

The Nottingham 68000 Centre,

40 Bridge Rd, West Bridgford,

Nottm. Tel: 0602 455114

M P C SOFTWARE

AMIGA SOFTWARE

Adventures

Borrowed Time

Deadline

Deja Vu

Enchanter

Faery Tale Adventure
Guild of Thieves

Hitchhikers Guide

Hollywood HiJinx
Jewels of Darkness

Knight Ore

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

Mind Forever Voyaging

Mindshadow ....

Portal

Silicon Dreams .
Starcross

Suspect

Suspended

Tasj Times in Tonelown

The Pawn

Trinity

Wishbnnger

Witness

Zorkl

Zorkll

£23
£27
£27
£27
£45
£23
£27

£18
PHONE
£27
£27
E23
£27
£18
£27
£27
£27

£31
£27
E27
£27
£27

Graphics

Aegis Animator * images

Aegis Images

Aegis Sonix

Deluxe Paint .

Deluxe Pami n

Deluxe Print

Deluxe Video

Deluxe Music

Graphicratt

Instant Music

Music Studio

SoundScape Pro Midi Studio

TVText

£110
£64
£75
£85

£135
£83
£99

£50
£27
£31

£150
£85

Leisure Software

Archon

Archon II . . ...,

Balance ot Power

Championship Golf

Chessmaster 2000

Chessmate —

Defenders of the Crown ..
Dr. Xes

Flight Simulator II

Hacker —

Halley Projeci

Leaderboard

Little Computer People
Racier .

SDI

Seven Cities of Gold

Shanghai

Silent Service

Sinbad

Strip Poker ....

Temple ot Apshai Trilogy

£27
£27
£38
£18
£40
£30
£40
£40
£45
£23
£40
£23
£30
£35
£40

£22
£43
£19
£21

Languages & Utilities

ACBas;c £265

AC Fortran £265

Amiga APL £200

CLImatc £32

K-SEKA £70

Lattice C £155

Metacmco Macro Assembler £65

Metacomco Make £46

Metacomco Pascal £83

Metacomco Shell ... £45

Metacomco Toolkit £37

Modula 2 (Standard) £90

Modula 2 (Developers) £135

Quick Nibble ... £35

The Mirror ... £45

Marauder II (disc copier) £40

Mirror Hacker Package £45

True BASIC £140

SPECIAL OFFER

Buy 3 or more programs and get a mouse mat.

or Ouickshot IX Joyball (Fully Microswitched

and Autofire Absolutely FREE

Business

Aegis Draw . - £125

Aegis Impact £160

Analyse V2.0 £135

DB-Man (DBase 3 clone) £125

Dynamic CAD £425

Financial Cookbook £45

Gizmoz — £45

Logistix £155

Mi Amiga file 2 £90

Mi Amiga Ledger £90

Mi Amiga Word PHONE

Nancy (Spell Checker) £47

Omega File . £95

Page Setter . £125

PCLO , £500

PHASAR (Home Accounts) £90

Scribble £90

Superbase Personal £135

Talker £65

Text Craft £40

VIP Professional £180

Zing PHONE

Arcade Games

American Football £25

Arctic Fox £27

Arena & Brataccus £32

Baseball PHONE

Deep Space £31

Grand Slam (Tennis) £45

Grid Iron £65

Marble Madness £27

Mind Walker £35

Monkey Business (Kong) £24

One on One basketball £27

Skyfox £27

Starglider £22

Winter Games £35

World Games £23

A500
Available Now!

Hardware

Digiview £200

Technical Reference Manuals PHONE

Other Books .... PHONE

10 3.5m Branded discettes £25

40 x 3.5in lockable discette storage box £13

80 x 3.5in lockable discette storage box £18

Mouse Mat £6

Elite Joystick £13

Professional Standard Joystick £15

Ouickshot IX Joyball £10

Citizen 120D Printer & Lead £220

Ouadram Ouadjet colour printer & Lead £400

Commodore MPS1000 Printer £280

Xerox 4020 Printer £1400

Amiga 1000 & 2000 PHONE

Genlock £450

256K-512K memory upgrade £90

Sidecar £700

Printer Lead £20

Comspec 2MB memory upgrade £600

2MB Memory upgrade £450

Add on3.5in disc drive £260

Add on 5.25in disc drive PHONE

Hard Disc Interface .... £330

20MB Hard Disc £900

40MB Hard Disc PHONE

Easyl Graphics Tablet £440

Triangle Graphics Tablet £350

Midi Interface £55

SoundScape Digitiser £95

NEW PRODUCTS
Barbarian Tripods

PHASAR TVText

MPC Software,

72 Julian Rd.,

West Bridgford,

Nottm. NG2 5AN

Tel: 0602 820106

All prices include postage & VAT

All prices correct at time of going

to press E&OE.

THE

AMIGA

DIMENSION

This is the beginning of our special
CCI Amiga section which contains
some extracts from the full "Com-
modore Business and Amiga User"
Magazine. That magazine, for those
interested in the complete over
sixty page publication, is available
on subscription, price £1.50 or by
order from a newsagent.

If you wish to order "Commodore
Business and Amiga User" fill in
the form below and take it to your
newsagent.

I should like to order a copy of "Commodore
Business and Amiga User" Price £1.50 per issue.

Name

Address

Telephone Number

with the

Xerox 4020

Colour Ink Jet Printer

is what you get

With NLQ too!

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Commodore Computing June 1987

FutureSound

TM

"Open the pod bay doors, HAL..."

Programmers cast their vote!

Right now, leading software developers
are hard at work on the next generation
of Amiga® products. To add the
spectacular sound effects we've all
come to expect from Amiga software,
they are overwhelmingly choosing one
sound recording package...
FutureSound. As one developer put it,
"FutureSound should be standard
equipment for the Amiga."

FutureSound the clear winner...

Why has FutureSound become the clear
choice for digital sound sampling on the
Amiga? The reason is obvious: a
hardware design that has left nothing
out. FutureSound includes two input
sources, each with its own amplifier,
one for a microphone and one for direct
recording; input volume control; high
speed 8-bit parallel interface, complete
with an additional printer port; extra
filters that take care of everything from
background hiss to interference from

DISTRIBUTED IN THE UK BY:

the monitor, and of course, a
microphone so that you can begin
recording immediately.

What about software?

FutureSound transforms your Amiga
into a powerful, multi-track recording
studio. Of course, this innovative
software package provides you with all
the basic recording features you expect.
But with FutureSound, this is just the
beginning. A forty-page manual will
guide you through such features as
variable sampling rates, visual editing,
mixing, special effects generation, and
more. A major software publisher is
soon to release a simulation with an
engine roar that will rattle your teeth.
This incredible reverberation effect was
designed with FutureSound's software.

Question: What can a 300 pound
space creature do with these
sounds?

Answer: Anything he wants.

Since FutureSound is IFF compatible
(actually three separate formats are
supported) your sounds can be used by
most Amiga sound applications. With
FutureSound and Deluxe Video
Construction Set from Electronic Arts,
your video creations can use the voice
of Mr. Spock, your mother-in-law, or a
disturbed super computer.

Programming support is also provided.
Whether you're a "C" programming
wiz or a Sunday afternoon BASIC
hacker, all the routines you need are on
the non-copy protected diskette.

oQAPPUED

Your Amiga dealer should have
FutureSound in stock. If not, just
give us a call and for £195.50 in
cash with order we'll send one right
out to you. Ahead warp factor one!

A

TRI CAMPUTER SAFTWARE Ltd

OFFICIAL COMMODORE AMIGA® DEALERS Tel: 09277 69081
31 OAK GREEN, TANNERS WOOD, WATFORD, HERTS WD5 0PG.
STOP PRESS.. . LIMITED QUANTITY, AMIGA A500 + AMIGA 2000 NOW IN STOCK PHONE FOR DETAILS.

Applied Visions, Inc., Suite 2200, One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 494-5417

The R4 Software Centre

^0 ^^M 1 PRINCETON STREET LONDON WC1 R 4AL TEL 01 430 0954

The specialist centre for Commodore 64, 128 and Amiga

Selected items from stock

Amiga Software

BUSINESS

Grafox
Haba

Maxisoft

Mycrosystems

Precision

Gold

New Horizons

Sedona

Meridian

Commodore

VIP

Logistix £1/0.00

MiAmiga File Database £90.00

MiAmiga Ledger £90.00

Maxidesk £69.00

Maxiplan Spreadsheet £139.00

Maxicomm £54.00

Scribble Wordprocessor v.2 £90.00

Analyse Spreadsheet £100.00

Superbase £140.00

Pagesetter Desk Top Publishing £130.00

Flow Idea Processor £99.00

Money Mentor Personal Finance £95.00

Zing £75.00

Textcraft £89.00

VIP Professional £190.00

HOUSEHOLD

EA Financial Cookbook .

..£39.00

UTILITIES

Applied Visions
Activision

Commodore

EA

Kuma
Lattice

Manx
Metacomco

Mindscape
Modula2
True Basic
Unison

Zuma

Easyl

Futuresound Digital Sound Record £165.00

Music Studio £34.00

Images ££5.00

Images Artpak £46.00

Animator £120.00

Draw £150.00

Draw-plus £250.00

Amiga Term £49.00

ArragaC £149.00

Amiga Enhancer £14.00

Amiga Assembler £79.00

De Luxe Paint II £129.00

De Luxe Print £85.00

De Luxe Print Data Disk 2 £30.00

De Luxe Video Constr. Set £90.00

Instant Music £39.00

Music Construction Set £90.00

K-Seka 68000 Assembler £75.00

C Compiler v.3.1 (Developers £225.00

Aztec C Compiler (Developers) £290.00

MCC Pascal £75.00

Amiga Toolkit £39.00

Macro Assembler £90.00

Keyboard Cadet Typing Tutor £39.00

Modula 2 Developers System £149.00

Developers Toolkit £49.00

Printmaster Plus £49.00

Printmaster Art Gallery (1 or 2), each £29.00

Fonts 1, 2, 3/ each £29.00

TV Text £90.00

Alegra 512K Memory Expansion £350.00

Drawing Tablet £500.00

EDUCATIONAL

FB

Microillusion

Sierra
Unicom

Math Talk £44.00

First Shapes £39.00

Discover Spell £39.00

Discover Math £39.00

Winnie the Pooh - £24.00

Fraction Action £49.00

Decimal Dungeon £49.00

Kinderama £49.00

SIMULATIONS

Sublogic

Access

Accolade

Activision

Alert

Artworx

Gamestar

EA
Infinite

GAMES

EA

Cosmi

Cygnus

Epyx

Mindscape

Activision

Classic Image

Unicom

Rainbird

Insight
Other Valley

Polarvision

Origin

Sierra

Infocom

Flight Simulator

£45.00

Leaderboard Golf

£29.00

Mean 18 Golf

£39.00

Mean 18 Data disk

£20.00

Shanghai (Mahjong)

£24.00

Balance of Power

£39.00

Bridge 4

£29.00

Gridiron Football

! £59.00

Championship Basketball

£44.00

Championship Golf

£34.00

Baseball

£39.00

Chessmaster 2000

£€00

Grand Slam Tennis

£49.00

£39.00

£49.00

Golden Oldies

£29.00

Skyfox

£29.00

Marble Madness

£39.00

Arctic Fox

£29.00

Adventure Construction set

Superhuey

£29.00

£34.00

Starfleet

£44.00

£39.00

£39.00

Winter Games

£39.00

Halley Project

£39.00

Racter

£44.00

£34.00

Defender of the Crown

£44.00

£44.00

SDI

£44.00

£49.00

£49.00

Borrowed Time

£24,00

Hacker II

£29.00

£24.00

Little Computer People

Tass Times

£49.00

£24.00

Portal

£34.00

Hex . .

£34.00

Diablo

£24.00

Pawn

£24.00

Jewels of Darkness

£19.95

Financial Time Machine

Monkey Business

£34.00

£24.00

Delta Patrol

£24.00

Crimson Crown

£29.00

Transylvania

£29.00

Ultima III

£49.00

The Ogre

£39.00

£49.00

£44.00

Kings Quest III

£44.00

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Moonmist

£29.00

£29.00

£29.00

Hollywood Hi-Jinks

£29.00

All prices include VAT —
Add £2.00 for P&P (UK and Europe). Add 20% for other countries.

Software is not sold on a trial basis. Software sold by mail order in the UK may be returned
within 7 days of receipt, provided that it is not damaged, marked or soiled, in which event

the purchaser may claim a refund.

iReriem,

Andy Moss' famed expertise

in solving mind stretching adventure games is legendary.

He regularly comments in C.C.I, on all the many and increasingly

popular aspects of adventure.

Comment

Welcome again to Middle Earth,
and another Mind Forever
Venturing section packed with all
the best there is in Adventure.

First of all I am going to indulge
in a spot of name dropping and
showing off, as your fearless hero
tete a tetted it with a couple of
heavyweight legends from the world
of adventure this last month. Not
only did we make small talk over a
few cocktails and canapes but also
had lunch together! Impressive stuff
eh? But enough of this banter, who
were these Names I hear you ask,
well they were none other than
Inf ocom's Dave Lebling (he wrote
all three Zorks, Enchanter, Starcross
and Suspect) sitting on my left. The
Anita (The Pawn) Sinclair from
Magnetic Scrolls on my right. The
occasion was a luncheon at The
Limelight club (very trendy, dont
you think?) hosted by Acttvision to
announce to the Press their plans „,.,
for '87.

During our conversation, Dave
spoke about the new adventure he
is working on and how he had just
worked out the solution to a
fiendish puzzle he had dreamt up
involving a multi-ended chain that
would be found in more than one
room and needing to be picked up
in one go! The mind boggles but all
will be revealed in the fullness of
time, remember, you heard it here
first. Anita and Dave were both
being very polite about each others'
parsers. Well, why not? And Dave
was very Interested about a certain
software house gaining quite a
name at Inf ocom by the name of

Level 9. Guild of Thieves is nearly
finished and Anita has promised
me a sneak look at it, so as I write
this I am waiting for confirmation —
hopefully in time for this month's
section. So much for the gossip,
Dave left saying something about
Grues chasing himm and then he
was off, which just left Anita to tell
us more about The Pawn than we
ever thought possible.

What about Acttvision though,
what are their plans for '87? Well,
sadly they are to concentrate on
more "commercial" product and
licensing tie ups, than the Portal/
Alter Ego type software, which is a
great shame as they were certainly
becoming known for Innovative
programs of the highest quality.
Let's hope that they can do a bit of
both and keep us all happy.

Adventure

News

tv

inlogtaxnes

He ip Spot

David Crosweller at Inf ogrames has
asked me to pont out to anyone
purchasing The Sydney Affair (see
review further on) that the
instruction in the package have a
few mistakes. The listing of objects
found, is updated automatically
this time, so no typing list is
necessary at the start, and watch
out when hitting RETURN on the
murder scene, as you dont get a
second chance to go back to it. It
just loads in part 2!

Advent)^

flew*

Gothic Horror from CRL

CRL has announced the release of
Frankenstein, following the success
of Dracula. It is based on the
classic novel, and you play the part
of Prof Frankenstein, the mad
scientist who creates the Monster.
Written by Rod (Dracula) Pike, it wil
be a three porter, with animated
digitised graphics, horrific sound
effects, and some pretty gruesome
descriptive text. If you remember,
Dracula was the first piece of
software to be given a 15 certificate
because of the "terrifying" graphics
and text, so is this one going to be
just as terrible — we wait with bated
breath.

Doc the Destroyer

Doc the Destroyer is the first in an
advanced race of superheroes, say
Melbourne House. His powers of
reason and physical strength, and
his ability to survive are determined
by you at the start of each game.

The world of Doc, is Earth, now
however reduced to just raw rock,
and mankind is shielded from the
poisoned environment, by an
energy dome. Our hero is cast out
from this protection and branded, a
heretic after he warns everyone of
impending disaster, and he is left
to fight his way back in past the
City's defences, surviving the
gladitorial arena, to finally confront
the temple Priests, who seem to be
mixed up in all this.

The adventure also has arcade
type combat sequences depicted in
massive sprite, which Jane Denning
Melbourne's Marketing Manager

New Release from
Microprose

Following their almighty success
with Gunshlp, Microprose tell me
that their next BIGGIE, will be a
simulation on dodgy seafarers who
are quick to plunder the odd ship or
two, and go under the name of
PRATES. You will take the part of a
Pirate, in a graphical simulation of
life on the high seas. Sounds good
YOHO.

110 Commodore Computing June 1987

soys Is a "fantasy role playing text
and graphic arcade adventure
combat game!". Phew, sound too
good to be true, we shall see, wont
we?

SSI Launch Blitz

During this month, SSI are set to
release a whole stack of strategy
games, which should sell and truly
temper your lust for battle. They are
Broadsides, Gettysburg, Mech
Brigade, Carrier Force, Panzer
Grenadier, Wargame Construction
Set, Baltic 1985, Colonial Conquest,
Fighter Command, Computer
Ambush and BatUegroup. That
should keep all you wargamers
busy for a year or two.

Lord Of The Rings
Game 2

From the team that brought us Lord
Of The Rings, comes new of the
sequel, "Shadows Of Mordor" which
is based on Tolkien's The Two
Towers. Melbourne House promise
me that this adventure has certain
refinements to the system used in
LOR Part 1 , including more complex
problems, a quicker response time,
and an 800 word vocabulary. As the
saying goes, lef s wait and see.

Electronic Arts and the
Ring Quest

There is a huge adventure about to
engulf us from America thanks to
Electronic Arts, called Ring Quest,
which has been written by the
Ultima team. It is the story of an
enchantress named Lisa who has
come under the spell of the Ring of
Chaos. You are a ringbearer of The
Ring Of Order, and it is your
objective to free Lisa and unite the
two rings before life as we know
it . . . ends.

It is a roleplaying, interactive,
graphic, arcade fantasy adventure
game (In that order) with over 100
locations and 80 colour
Illustrations. Guess who will be
having a look at it?

Letters

Letters A §

I have had my 64 for quite some
time now, but never bothered to buy
adventures. But a few weeks ago
someone gave me a copy of
"Mindshadow" by Acttvision. Now I
am addicted and could you please
tell me how to finish the bit on the
pirate ship. If s driving me mad as I
can't seem to do anything. Please
help me.
Nick Gentleman
Enfield, Middx.

How could you have been so foolish
Nick, to not bother to buy
adventures? I think as a
punishment I should let you stew on
the pirate ship forever, so there. But
as you have seen the errors of your
ways here is the answer. When you
arrive on the ship, go down to the
crews quarters and fight the pirate.
This will allow you access to the
galley, where you will find a meat
cleaver, get it, and go up on deck.
Look out to sea, and you will see a
Navy ship chasing, cut the anchor
with the cleaver, stopping the ship
and board Navy boat by walking
the plank!

Dear Andy,

Please, please, please could you

help me. I have got Savage Island

Part 1 and boy is it hard. If s

practically impossible! Please

could you tell me how to get to the

atoll, kill the bear and shelter from

the hurricane?

From a CCI fan, Steven Clark

East Sussex

Hmmmm Steven, losing your rag
over a simple adventure like
Savage bland? I'm surprised at
you. Its really a piece of cake for a
mega hero like me, but for you mere
mortals here are a few tips. At the
beach dig with hands and get the
rum go volcano and drop watch
and bottle at the entrance to the
cave at the lake. Hold breath, enter

lake, get block and knife. The basin
in the cave should be filled with the
rum, and the empty bottle filled
with salty water. The bear can be
passed by pouring water onto the
clltt and waiting while the bear
licks the salt. The hurricane is
random, so save the game at
regular intervals.

HelloAndy,

I have been playing The Pawn, and
achieved 300 points! But now I am
stuck, I hope you can help. How can
the safe in the tree hut be opened?
and how can the door in the ice
tower be opened? Looking through
CCI I have discovered that you have
an Adventure section so now I will
buy CCI each month for sure. I hope
you can answer my questions and
wish you many long frustrating
moments with adventures like all
game reviewers.
TimeWisslnk
Holland

Thanks a lot Tim, and the same to
you! Ws really nice to know that all
over the world we adventurers all
get stuck in the same places, and if
I can help an overseas soul I will, so
here goes. First of all, to open the
Ice Door and the safe, you need the
BLUE key. However, you can only
insert it in one door as it
disappears after use! I suggest
opening the safe as the Ice Door
only leads to the Princess. This will
give you another 40 points.

Dear Andy,

I hate to point out but in your March
87 Issue you have made a mistake.
( 1 ) You do not become an Avatar,
Just by being enlightened in the
eight virtues, you only become a
partial and will not automatically
solve the quest. (2) You do not go
through the City of Cove to find the
Abyss. (3) The Abyss is on the same
island as the Shrine of Humility.

It took me some 4 months to finish
Ultima IV and I am now into the
Bards Tale.

Yours Falcon Atarglobe
Falgon, Level 9, The Abyss
TV

Commodore Computing June 1987 111

n
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OFFICIAL COMMODORE/AMIGA DEALER

COMPUTERS

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Commodore 128D with Green Screen Moniior • Box Disks .. . . ....562.35

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DISKS (Example*)

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All prices include VAT
CARRIAGE £8, EXPRESS DELIVERY £12, Software & Small Items FREE.

A

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Veto* Pc Softewvie^tdC \

8 Ruswarp Lane, WHITBY, N. Yorks. Y02 1 ND.
Tel: 0947 600065 (9am-7pm)

• This book tells you far more about
BASIC 7.0 works than many books at
nearly twice the price. • Machine Code
entry points for all BASIC routines.

• Kernal, BASIC and Editor jump tables
explained in depth. • Detailed hardware
descriptions. • 340 pages.

Available from all good computer/
bookshops or send cheque/P.O. to:

BitStream Publishing

(Dept C)

26-28 Osborne Road

Southsea, Hants. P05 3LT

* Add £1.00 for overseas orders

NEOS MOUSE + SOFTWARE

• (THE COMMODORE MOUSE) •

NEOS MOUSE WITH "CHEESE"
CASSETTE AND "CHEESE" ON
DISC = £34.90
Wigmore disk version includes
genuine save & load to disk.

"CHEESE" on disc - £8.50

(including save and load of pictures with fast and

slow load.)

ARTIST 64

MOUSE or JOYSTICK

This is the most sophisticated,
powerful and advanced art or
graphics package available on a
CBM 64 or 128.

"Artist 64 is an excellent graphics
package and we were extremely
impressed with its range of capabilities. It is in fact probably the most
versatile graphics program that we have seen".

Your Commodore takes over where cheese leaves off. Although friendly
and fun - can be used professionally with over 250,000 combinations of
commands.

• GIVE YOUR 64/128 - AMIGA TYPE GRAPHICS*
Full colour working. Full screen working. Zoom and Pan. Create any brush
fill, pattern or icon. Variable Text. Commodore and Epson printdumps. Add
other print routines. Innovative colour commands. "Over and Under" -
(colours weave over and under each other) "Colour Cycling" "Duplicate

objects without certain colours."

P.C.W. "Artist 64 is a compulsory purchase

Tape or Disc = £29.90

DESK TOP! Mouse or Joystick or K Board

Fascinating Range of utilities handy facilities. 100 year calendar
Diary. Clock. Calculator. Disc Utilities. Name/Addr. Directory.

Cassette |^~
and Disc i-~"

9

V

IGMORE

ACUtSSS
CHEQUES

PO CASH

ORDERS

P&P'UK£1 50
Overseas £3 00

House umtoo Dealer, Export and Educational Enquiries

32SavilleRow London W1X 1AG 01-734 8826 Welcome'

DIGITAL
SHADES

AMIGA HARDWARE
& SOFTWARE
SPECIALISTS

Special Deals on AMIGA/

1000 & 500 units and full/

after sales support

Opening next month
For details watch this space

^

iRerieHts

VENTURING"*'

I'm impressed at your prowess, kind
sir! However, if you had taken the
time to read the section properly,
you would have seen that I did say
that I was not going to give the
whole game away, as mat would
have spoilt a lot of people's hard
work. What I did do was point them
in the right direction, and untangle
the many complicated stages so
lesser mortals than your good self
could carry on. I beg your
continuing presence each month
on progress in your latest exploits,
and 111 overlook this little matter.
Me, make a mistake? Whatever
next?

The Sydney Affair —
Infogrames £8.95

If you remember, back in the
January issue, I reviewed Vera Cruz,
the first in Infogrames detective
series, and spoke in glowing terms
about the game. It really hooked
me, and I must say, I felt very much
like a real detective, as the clues

came inching their way out of the
game bit by bit. I had the
murderer's name but couldnt prove
it until many hours of play, and
even then it was touch and go.

The Sydney Affair is effectively
Vera Cruz 2, with you as the now
famous French detective given the
case of James Sydney, who has
been shot dead in the street by a
sniper's long range rifle, from an
upstairs flat window.

The same scenario then applies,
where you move a box cursor
around the scene of the crime
looking for evidence and the odd
clue, and then move to your office
computer network system to try by
contacting different police services
via the computer, to crack the case.
There are a few changes to the
original, for instance this time there

are two places to search for
evidence, the street (next to the
body) and the flat from which the
shots were fired. Once you have got
your bits and pieces, you no longer
have to type in the various objects
as you did in Vera, the computer
keeps them in memory, and
automatically compares this
evidence with the suspects' alibis.
And finally using the Network has
been made easier from a typing
point of view. So much for the good
news. The bad news is there is STILL
no save game function, an absolute
must in a program of this nature;
the crime is if anything, easier to
solve than Vera Cruz (its apparent
right from the start why he was
killed) and the instructions leave a
lot to be desired (see Infogrames
help spot in the news section).

I feel that Sydney Affair has been
rushed released in the wake of Vera
Cruz success, and that not enough
thought has gone into it. If s a
shame because I love the idea, and
thought Vera Cruz was fabulous, it's
just that this one lacks the
atmosphere and the tension and its
just a bit of a let down.
Personal rating 6

Murder Off Miami —
CRL £8.95

This is a 3 part detective story,
penned by the infamous Fergus
Mcneil and Jason Somerville of

Delta 4 fame, and casts you as
Detective Officer Kettering
assigned to investigate the
apparent suicide of wealthy
financier Bolitho Blane. It is based
on the Dennis Wheatley novel of the
same name, and is set around the
early 1900's on a cruiser off the
coast of Miami. It is a fairly serious
venture for the two authors, who
have up to now been content to
take the mickey out of just about
anything that moves. And as such I
will look at it in just that, a fairly
serious manner.

As a detective adventure. It
doesnt work very well, because of
the limited vocabulary. As usual
they are using Gilsoft's Quill to
implement, and this game is
pushing the system a bit too far.
These days, we are getting used to
very sophisticated parsers that let
you type in full English sentences
and multi-task commands. Murder
Off Miami is a game that cries out
for a detailed enough parser that
lets you interrogate suspects in a
free and easy manner, instead of
being shackled by software
limitations, one drawback of the
Quill system. I found myself getting
very frustrated trying to hold a
conversation with an, in the end
sleeping person! You can visit the
characters' cabins and explore
them whilst they are asleep in their
beds, and worst of all just as I was
getting down to having a good look

PREVIEW

Stifflip and Co —
Palace Software

A very classy adventure is about t
be with us, written by Binary Vision,
(who did some marvellous work in
The Fourth Protocol) and chronicles
the efforts of four unlikely spies,
who have to track down the evil
Count Chameleon, a man who is the
sworn enemy of the English
Establishment. He has developed
the rubbertronic ray, which will
neutralise starchy wing collars, and
worst of all drastically alter the
bounce and line of a cricket ball!
It had a sneak look at the game,
at Palace's HO, in London and can
report that it is a very clever
production. The action revolves
around the four strange spies,
Viscount Stifflip, Colonel R.G,
Bargie, Professor Braindeath and
Miss Palmyra Primbottom, who are
flown to a country named Banana
to seek out Chameleon and destroy
the Ray. All the action is icon
controlled, and as you can see from

the screen shot, the design and
layout is very pretty indeed. You
have to move each character
around the country, exploring
different locations which are
graphically represented in a series
of black and white 'stills' which
scroll upwards as each new area is
entered. Objects can be found and
used to get past a whle nest of
problems, and I must point out that
although there is a fight sequence,
this is not an arcade adventure, just
a purely graphical one which does
require a lot of strategy work to
overcome the puzzles. You can talk
to characters in the game via
speech bubblees and there is a fair
amount of action as Chameleons
henchmen pop up every now and
then and have to be dealt with.

I am reliably told by Palace, that
there are over 60 locations in the
game using two loads, and each
location is graphically different. It
looks like a cross between
Shadowfire and Kwah, but the test
is, is it as good? — We shall see . . .

CONTINUED WAtfE lit

Commodore Computing June 1987 113

ifeatuie/

PREVIEW

/liESj!

a visit to Magnetic
Scrolls and plays it first
hand to find out the

review.

A trip to the offices of Magnetic
Scrolls is something of an
adventure in itself, with it being
tucked away in a tiny comer of
early South London, not a stones
throw from London Bridge — and
me in a car trying to negotiate the
small courtyard entrance in which I
knew they lived.

I was greeted with some warm
"Helios" from the programming
team, given a cup of coffee almost
instantly (this I am reliably
informed is a ritual, you will never
see them without one) and plonked
in front of a monitor and keyboard
with the words "so you have come to
programmers play Thieves have
you?" They all sniggered and gave
each other "he doesn't know what
he is letting himself in for" type
looks. Taking no notice of this idle
banter your fearless adventurer
peered at the screen and prepared
to do battle with the vaunted 'Guild
of Thieves'.

The adventure is set once again
in Kerovnia (the location of The
Pawn) and is all about your
attempts to become a better thief
and be able to join the famous
Guild of Thieves. The game opens

.-. •.!i:"!i7.:i mil

rutin \v,i i:i:ti lbltb tmi

with you and The Master Thief in a
small boat adjacent to an old jetty.
He gives you instructions, which are
to ransack a nearby castle of its
treasures and return to him in the
boat. According to how many
treasurer you recover you will be
rated as to your worthiness in
thievemanship, and, as the Master
Thief also knows exactly how many
treasures there are to be found you

cant cheat you way into their club.
You start with just a swag bag to
your name and a lot of hope. The
pictures in Thieves, and there are
around 30, are I would say even
better than The Pawn, and I had the
opportunity to view three different
machines at the same time,
(Amiga, 64 and ST) and I can tell
you there is not a great deal of
difference between them, which is
remarkable especially for the 64
version.

i:i:m -::r

The room descriptions are good
and meaty, and you have to pay
very close attention to a lot of it as
there are a few clues hidden in the
text that can easily be overlooked.
By now I was having a little
problem with some cellar rats, and
all Anita kept doing was walking
over every so often and nodding
wisely, as if to say, you are not
going to get any help from me!

The humour that ran through The
Pawn (remember the Porter in Hell)

■ -^•' ^W r. r *.v w .• •

*,Un iti - ::i it :bs sstrtb iiid east nails.

:)ftt YA

^im&nm 35t tb« cw,

ya '.: :n the ess h'.'. y.'l-.z-

inVitffl

The initial locations are some
scrubland, a wheatfield, a windmill
and a wood, and it is good to get a
feel for the game by wandering
around these areas for a while. As I
was exploring these first few places,
Anita Sinclair, Magnetic Scrolls' MD
arrived fresh from yet another
meeting, took one look at where I
was and gave (what was quickly
becoming a frequent event) yet
another knowing smile. "Have fun"
she said, and went off to
concentrate on her own keyboard
and monitor. Back to the game, and
eventually, you'll see the castle,
complete with moat, and it's in
there that a good deal of the game
takes place. There was talk of
Thieves being easier than The
Pawn. Well, put all notions of that
out of your mind, as I can tell you
that some of the puzzles are mean
to say the least. I would say that it is
more user friendly however. There is
a nice GO TO command that lets
you revisit a location automatically,
in fact you can even type "go to
sword" if you cant remember where
you left it!

is very ol .

lovely sequence in t

involves over 25 differen

and their contents — watch out for

that.

After 4 hours, and uncountable
cups of coffee, I called it a day,
having found a few treasures visited
some fancy places and got myself
killed a few times, but richer for the
experience. The sniggering from
the programmers had stopped as
they got down to some serious work
debugging and generally putting
the finishing touches to the game,
Anita was on the phone discussing
some finer points of the packaging,
it was 1 1 pm and it seemed the day
was just beginning at Magnetic
Scrolls. So, with a quick "hope you
liked it, see you again soon", and
wave from them I was on my way
home, safe in the knowledge that
another masterpiece was nearing
completion. Personally it cant be
soon enough. And to think, that
there are at least another five
adventures planned over the next
two years to look forward to ... oh
bliss!

114 Commodore Computing June

IAN

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

Bringing the World of Technology to your fingertips

AMIGA A500

With free box of
3 1 / 2 in diskettes

worth £19.95 inc. VAT

£434

AMIGA SOFTWARE

Donald Duck

£19.95

Imported direct

Winnie the Pooh

£19.95

from the USA

Space Quest

£34.95

and subject to

Kings Quest Vol II

£34.95

availability

Black Cauldron

£34.95

STAR NL10 PRINTER

Draft paper 2000 sheets

worth £14.95 inc VAT

£219

THE FINAL CARTRIDGE I

£34.00

With free game
of your choice
worth up to
£9.95 inc VAT

5 1 / 4 " DISKETTES (Box of ten)

In plastic library case £8.65

CBM64C

Including mouse

and cheese

C2N cassette player

+ software titles £174.00

3 1 / 2 " DISKETTES (Box of ten)

In plastic library case. Double sided 135 T.P.I. £17.35

WE ALSO ACCEPT

VIC 20, C16, +4, C64 and C128 Part Exchange on the new
Commodore Amiga A500. Phone for details.

LARGE RANGE OF GAMES AND SOFTWARE IN STOCK

e

COME IN AND SEE US

NEWBURY PARK

CALLERS
ALWAYS WELCOME AT

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CHA DWELL

HEATH

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1063 HIGH ROAD
CHADWELL HEATH
ROMFORD, ESSEX

Tel: 01-597 8851

We are open

9-6.00pm

Monday to

Saturday

HOW TO ORDER

Enclose letter with cheque, postal order or credit card

number for total amount including VAT and delivery

charge.

Credit card holders may order by telephone.

Dispatch normally in 24 hrs. Contact Sales Desk

Official Orders from Educational Establishments,
Local Authorities and Government departments welcome. Contact
Educ. Dept. EXPORT HOT LINE: 01-597 8854. TELEX: 9955
Dealer and Export Enquiries: Contact Trade Dept.

Delivery Charges: Below £10.00 add £1.50
Below £50.00 add £2.50
Below £100.00 add £3.50
Above £1 00.00 add £8.00

Prices exclusive of V.A T. and Correct at time of going to press.

Education callers ask for

Tony Judge or Mike Brown

E5

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"Hollywood Poker" is a
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one of them a real
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take off her clothes. Choose
between four different girls.
Try your luck!

Available from mid- April on

these machines:

Spectrum -£6.95

C64 Tape -£7.95; Disk -£9.95

Atari -£14.95

Amiga -£19.95

Plus 4 -£6.95

DIAMOND SOFTWARE ROBTEK LIMITED-
UNIT 4- I.SLEWORTH
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ROBTEK MOUSE PAD

£7.95 /

1) Right track for your mouse.

2) Rubber mouse pad saves a lot of mouse wear
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3) Surface feature helps to keep your mouse
rollers clean and tracking smoothly.

4) Mouse pad also protects furniture finishes.

Unit 4, Isleworth Business Complex,
St. John's Road, Isleworth,
Middlesex, TW16NL.
Telephone: 01-847 4457

AMAZING NEW 'TOTAL BACKUP' CARTRIDGE FOR COMMODORE 64 AND 128 (IN 64 MODE)

NEW ACTION REPLAY V. 3 FROM DOSOFT
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Action Replay V. 3 is now more powerful, codisk. Disk to tape. No special
has more features and will back up more knowledge is required. It tells you

programs than any competing cartridge!
ii handles the latest protected games!
Just plug it into the expansion port
then press the Magic Button! Our new
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exactly what to do. It's so friendly
and it'salotof fun too!

Become invulnerable! Action Replay
V.3 now has a SPRITE KILLER. Play weird
games! The unique SPRITE MONITOR
lets you save sprites from one game and
load them in another! The mind boggles!

Nothing else offers all these features at this price!

■ SpriteControI,

Unique Sprite Monitor lets you
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■ Picture Save

Unique! Save ANY Multicolour
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Compatible with Blazing Paddles.
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Built-in SHdcshow for tape users.

■ Disk Fastloade?

5uperb bonus feature loads five
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I Code Inspector

■ Mega-Freeze

Freeze and save ANY working
program — the Magic Button is
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■ Independent

All programs reload without
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—tape or disk.

■ Extra Fast

Make all backups at Turbo Speed-
much faster than rival cartridges.
Dual speed Tape Turbo is up to 3
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10 times faster than Commodore. Look at whole memory— program,

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Intelligent compacting techniques ■ V^WlliprtlllMt
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Action Replay V.3 is a delight to use. ^ FOR LESS1

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No user knowledge is required. inONEcartridgeONLY*39.99

Action Replay and DiskMate are also available from Datel Electronics

DiskMate Cartridge V.2

This is the way Commodore should have their DOS.

Single keystroke commands: e.g. LOAD and RUN

straight from directory, and much, much more!

Works with all drives: 1541, 1570 and 1571.

• 2 minute complete Backup * Very

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• SAVE"@0:"bug cured

• Takes up NO memory

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£14

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TERRIFIC
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100% SUCCESS?
WE ASK: WHO'S
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Action Replay V.3 will back-up ANY
program which ANY other cartridge
can — and much more! It also has
unmatchable features. For instance,
Freeze Frame' uses more disk space,
saves SLOWER, has a SLOWER tape
loader and has NO built-in disk
fastloader, NO picture, NO Sprite, NO
restart- features, yet costs £10 more!!!
So, come on, who's kidding who? If
Action Replay V.3 doesn't live up to our
claims, return it within 7 days of receipt
and you can have your money back!

Enhancement Disk

Buy DiskMate with Action Replay
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//nside/ti

icpl

lug

ICPUG is a highly influen-
tial organisation and brings
many benefits to its mem-
bers across the whole
range of Commodore
activity. CCI considered
that a regular column from

ICPUG would be of

interest to many readers.

The views expressed by

ICPUG may not be those

of CCI

A chance of stardom sometimes strikes
quickly. In the ICPUG Column in April's
CCI, I was mentioned as Chief Librarian
of ICPUG and now, I find myself writing
the column.
Friday afternoon, 5 o'clock is drawing

near. Sam, my boss, is trying to clear his
desk as he's on leave next week. He's
clearing it onto mine! The phone rings
and my weekend plans go into disarray.
I often get asked what the National
Committee of ICPUG actually DO. One
answer is we help each other out. John
Bickerstaff (Vice Chairman) has rung
with a problem — Tim Arnot is on
holiday and CCI hasn't got his copy.
Most of the rest of the committee are
away (the Chairman's on honeymoon).
All that is needed is a short article.
"Doesn't sound too bad", I say, "When's
it needed by?" "First post WHICH
Monday!" Great, all I need to do is think
of something, write it tonight, get it in
the posttomorrow morning and it will be
there on time. Pity about all the other
jobs though.

On the way home I start thinking of
possible topics. Over tea the family add
a few more. First prize goes to my
brother who suggests "The problems of
a wildlife photographer"; April to June is
the time f tend to sit up trees (no
kidding) to photograph deer, foxes and
badgers. Tonight instead I sit at my PET,
wordprocessing. Luckily today's post
didn't contain any copying require-
ments, just the minutes of the last
Committee meeting, two letters request-
ing information on the PET library and a
plea for help on the 8096 (my own

machine). The plea for help will take a
bit of time but the other two can be
answered by a standard reply sheet. So,
now down to business.

As a librarian I get quite a lot of
general enquiries. These range from the
very general ("Where can I get my 1541
fixed?") to the occasional 6 pages of
great detail and problems. The latter are
always fun and a great challenge.
Indeed it is often one of these problems
which prompts me to write that little
utility that I've never quite got round to.
One of my specialist topics is disks.
Do you know that it takes time but is
fully possible to recover the files from a
disk which has had its directory (header)
track corrupted or which has been
reformatted (using the short form of the
command). I know because I've done it
twice now for members. I did point out
to both that it would have been a lot
quicker to make backup copies of their
disks. During these sessions there is
one pair of books which serve as my
'bible'. I do, of course, mean Rae West's
excellent pair 'Programming the PET/
CBM' and 'Programming the Commo-
dore 64'. If you haven't got a copy, get
one — you'll never regret it and if you
haven't joined ICPUG, come on in —
we're a friendly, helpful bunch (ask my
paperboy, Kevin; he's just joined!)

Joe Griffin

nevis y

since 1970

ALL DISCS TESTED INDIVIDUALLY
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76 MUSWELL HILL ROAD
LONDON N10. 01-883 7656

See us on Prestel, page 258880082

H

ICPUG

the Independent

Commodore Products Users Group

is the largest and most friendly

computer club in the country

• Many local groups with regular meetings

• Superb FREE Newsletter- 80 plus pages of
reviews, news and information every two
months

• We support all Commodore Machines old and
new: PET, VIC20, 64, 16, +4, PC, 1 28 and
AMIGA...

• Free Software Library of public domain
programs for all the above machines available
to members on supply of blank disk or tape
and payment of p&p

• Help and Advice

• Discount scheme

• Subscription only £1 per year (UK) plus £1
joining fee

If you are seriously interested in using or programming
any Commodore computer, then joining ICPUG is a must!

For full details, send a stamped, addressed envelope to:

icpl
Ufg

ICPUG Membership Secretary, Jack B. Cohen,
30, Brancaster Road, Newbury Park,
llford, Essex, IG2 7EP

MINP FOKEVB?
VENTURlN6..y

around I was told that the first day
had ended, save on tape, and load
in day two. What happened next
was an I/O error and the chance to
only start all over again. No way to
retrieve my last position. This is just
plain bad manners, and CSL
should not release a tape until full
error trapping has been carried out.

There are some good points
though, like a dossier of the
suspects, and a plan of the ship,
some witty text, and a good plot.
The graphics apart from the
loading screen are pretty dire, and
pretty worthless apart from the odd
clue the memory space should have
gone to more words instead.
Personal rating 4

Kobyashi —
Mastertronic £1.99

Kobyashi Nam is everything a full
price adventure should be but at a
fraction of the cost. It is a game
completely driven by icon control,

that lets you examine get, drop, use,
analyse, throw, etc. without typing a
word. On top of that there are some
pretty clever puzzles thrown in, in
fact I am totally baffled by one as
we speak! The storyline is all about
your trials to become accepted in
the Order of Immortals. You start in
a closed chamber on the world of
Ygor, and ahead of you are three
closed doors. Each door leads to a

quest adventure, which must be
solved and the required objects
brought back to the chamber. It
doesn't matter in which order you
attempt the doors but you cannot
return to the chamber until you have
found the quest object of that
section. The problem is you dont
know what it is! The screen layout
has all the icons surrounding the
top half of the picture, with the rest
of the screen used for location
graphics and text. With descriptions
like "You stand on a vast fertile
plain. A myriad of tiny creatures
scurry about their business paying
you no heed. The place seems to be
teeming with life and a sickly smell
hangs in the air." You can see that it
is pretty atmospheric.

A wonderful buy by any
standards. Go and get it tomorrow!
Personal Rating 9

The Ket Trilogy —
Incentive £7.95

In 1984, when this trilogy first
appeared as three separate
adventures, there was a prize of a
video recorder to the first person to
complete the coded message that
appeared at the end of each part. I
toiled away for weeks, truly,
because not only did I want the
recorder, but I actually enjoyed the
games immensely. Unfortunately, it
came to pass that someone beat me
to it, I came to grief at the
Guardians riddles, so it was not to
be. But Incentive have bundled
them together on one tape at a very
useful price, and even three years
on, the adventures play well. The
plot concerns you as a convicted
murderer (falsely accused) given
the chance to go free if you find
and destroy the evil King Vran who
has devastated the land of Ket. Your
task is to travel across the
mountains, (Part 1) then
underground via the Temple (Part
2) and on to the Final Mission in
Vrans inner sanctum. Incentive
have added a nice touch to the
precedings by inserting a small
map routine which uncovers as you
explore, giving you a chance to see
right away where abouts you are,
and doing away with mapping on
paper. An adventure that stands the
test of time and is great fun to play.
Personal Rating 7

Imagination —
Firebird — £1.99

There you were, browsing through
your local computer shop, when you
notice a dusty disk with no label
just lying there. The shopkeeper
hasnt got a clue where it came

from, and lets you take it home to
find out what is on it. So what
happens, you get home, power up
the Commodore and insert the disc.
After a lot of whirring and clanking
you are faced with a menu of 4 titles
one of which is THE LORDS OF HALF
PAST NINE which leaves you in no
doubt as to the flavour of this
escapade. Selecting the first game
makes something strange happen
— you actually get pulled into that
very adventure!

This is a very witty yam from the
pen of Peter Torrence, who wrote
Subsunk and is in fact four
adventures in one, linked together
by this vision of you sitting at your
keyboard trying to work out what
this game disk is all about. The
drawback is that the parser is a
little limited, and refuses to allow
you much in the way of helping you
if you are a little off course, you
know, you know what you want to
do but the parser wont let you until

you do something else first. You can
get items from one adventure and
use them in another, and can come
and go quite freely from one to
other simply by typing PINCH YOUR
ARM!

And the reason for all this
excitement? Well the quest is dead
simple really, just to find the exact
number of stars in the Universe! This
done, you can quite happily go
back to counting sheep before
going to sleep at night.
Personal Rating 8

Next month I have a treat for all
vou role players out there, asl wiU

tronTJmerica soon to be seen over

he Ateo if you've any adventures that
I vou have written yourself, send
I SemintomeandlTlteUttierestof
I the World about them. Farewell
I from Middle Earth.
I Write to ANDY MOSS CCI 40
I Bowling Green Lane, LondonECi.

118 Commodore Computing June 1987

THiN9i

computer copy holder

AN OVERBASE PRODUC

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THE MOUSE PAD -
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NEOS MOUSE & CHEESE CBM 64 COMPATIBLE

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1 c

N

Here is our up-dated Add On Guide, covering all that's available to
considerably enhance your computer's potential and give value for money.
The Guide covers monitors, interfaces, modems and other hardware
products which can prove to be a very worthwhile investment.

MUSIC ADD-ONS

Product Features Machine

Price

Company

Music Maker Starter program. Turns 64 into 64,128
keyboard.

£29.95

Music Sales
01-636 7777

Playalong Albums 3 available: Pop, Classics, 64,128
Beatles. 12 songs. Auto playback or
will teach to play melody.

£9.95

Music Sales

Sound Studio 2 programs in 1. (1) Turns computer 64,128
into synthesizer. On screen controls.
60 sounds in memory. (2) Sound
recording studio (3 channels). Real
step time.

£14.95

Music Sales

Sound Sampler Hardware & software package with 64,128
audio lead and mike. Samples and
digitizes sound. Editing facilities.
Pitch sampler. Drum & echo
facilities.

£69.95

Music Sales

Sound Expander Hardware & Software package. 64,128
Gives 64 extra sounds. Turns
computer into generator using F.M.
technology. Enables 11 voices to
be used at one time. Easy play
features built in.

£99.99

Music Sales
C0NTWU£l>MP?l<f£~/23

120 Commodore Computing June 1987

SHIFNAL SATELLITE
COMMUNICATIONS

COMMODORE 64 Power Pack Problems
Need a new Power Pack?

Need a new Power Pack?
or do you!

The SRM Module from Shifnal Satellite Communications.

gets those faulty power packs working again.

Don't spend £30 to £35 on a new power pack when all you

need is an SRM.

Works with FAULTY POWER PACKS, if your power

light won't come on or comes on, then goes out, then the SRM

is for you.

PLUGS IN LINE WITH YOUR POWER PACK

Prolongs the life of a good power pack

AS REVIEWED IN ZAPP 64 JUNE 1 986

PATENT PENDING

1 year parts and labour guarantee
The SRM is only available from:
SHIFNAL SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
45 DANESFORD, HOLLINSWOOD,
TELFORD, SHROPSHIRE TF3 2DZ.
PRICE £1 7.95 + POSTAGE. WE SEND WORLD WIDE
POSTAGE: UK & BFPO £1 .50 (Recorded Delivery)
OUTSIDE UK £5.00

PAYMENT BY CHEQUE, P.O., INTERNATIONAL MONEY ORDER,

ACCESS, VISA

PLEASE ALLOW 28 DAYS FOR DELIVERY

AS DEMAND WILL BE HIGH

r.iiltrm

f<54 DR/KWINIG BOARD

i m 8 -4 «.r

A precision graphics utility for

Designers
Architects
Hobbyists

ic Create, manipulate, combine, compare,
fill, patterns and multiple sheet drawings

ir Fast and secure archival and retrieval of
drawings

t*: Mostly single keystroke commands

For use with disk-drive and

dot-addressable printer

£29 plus VAT

Culton Sales and Services Limited
34 Mount Street
Dorking, Surrey RH4 3HX
Tel: (0306)885138

CjjriBfaTL *'

64 DRAW ING E30/C R O

E,r»ia-n-nMi:fc» ,v.g ii[-£ s«EiM

HOW DOES AN EXTRA £2000-£5000 (AND UPWARDS) -
EACH AND EVERY MONTH - SOUND LIKE TO YOU?

4

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HOME BY... COMPUTER!

AND NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU TOO HAVE A CHANCE TO
JOIN THIS GROUP OF WEALTH-BUILDERS!

ITC constantly scans the globe for unique, highly lucrative I
computer-operated business ventures. We seek out, research and •
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how to begin and what you need, marketing techniques, who and w
where your prospective customers are, to running your thriving w
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Name

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() Cash

Credit card orders welcome:

Visa/Barclay, Mastercard/Access/Eurocard,
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() Charge my credit card No

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Franklinstraat 5 P.O. Box 414

1221 HA Hilversum 1200 AK Hilversum ISSN 0921-0407
Netherlands Netherlands

Bonus offer to CCI Readers: "Valuable start-up business facts" booklet free
£10.00 of regular subscription price (£55).

POOLSWINP 8 ^

THE ULTIMATE POOLS PREDICTION PROGRAM

• MJUSJVK DATABASE Pooliwinner is a sophisticated Pooli
prediction aid. It cornea complete with the largest daiabace
available - 22000 matches over 10 years. The database updates
automatically as results come in.

• PREDICTS Not just SCOREDRAWS, but A WAYS, HOMES
and NO SCOR ES.

• SUCCESSFUL SELEC guarantee that Poolswinner performs
significantly better than chance.

• ADAPTABLE Probabilities are given on every fixture -
choose as many selections as you need (or your bet. The
precise prediction formula can be set by the user - you can
develop and test your own unique method.

• SIMPLE DAT A ENTRY All team names are in the program. Simply type in the reference
numbers from the screen. Or use FXXGEN to produce fixture list automatically (see below) .
DISC/MICRODRITE COMPATIBLE Tapes supplied with conversion instructions.
PRINTER SUPPORT Full hard copy printout of data if you have a printer.

PRICE £15.00 (ail inclusive)

Boxed, with deiuied
uvtxuction bookl*

■ ■■■■j,,,,, | -i _ AT LAST: No more struggling tor hours to get the
MYfJkNHh/7 fixture list into the computer. FTXOEN has been
I UWull UU/ i programmed with all English and Scottish fixtures
for 1986/7. Simply type in the date, and the full fixture list is generated in
seconds. Fully compatible with Poolswinner. Yearly updates available.
POOLSWINNER with FTJCGEN £16.50 (for both)

COVRSEWINNERva

THE PUNTERS COMPUTER PROGRAM

NOT JUST A TIPSTER
PROGRAM, Coursewinner
V3 can be used by experts
and occ astonal punters alike.
You can develop and test your own unique winning system by adjusting the
analysis formula, or use the program in simple mode. Coursewinner V3 uses
statistical analysis of major factors including past form, speed ratings, course
statistics, prize money, weight, going, trainer and jockey form etc, etc. It
outputs most likely winners, good long odds bets, forecasts, tricastB etc. The
database includes vital course statistics for all British courses. You can update
the database - never goes out of date.

PRICE £15.00 (all inclusive) iactades Hat AND Naneaal Hani vsrsioM.

ALL PROGRAMS AVAILABLE FOR: AMSTRAD CPCs, AMSTRAD PCWs (ADD £3.00), Ail BdCt. Ail SPECTRUMS.

COMMODORE 64/138, ATARI (481* ). SINCLAIR QL

Supplied on tape (simple conversion (o disc) - except PCW (on 3" disc) and QL (on tnicrodrive)

BB

Send Cheques/POs for return of post service to .

phone 24 his SOFTWARE phone 24 his

37 COUNCILLOR LANE, CHEADLE, CHESHIRE. S 061-428 7425

(Send for lull fist of our software)

TROJAN
CAD-MASTER

THE ULTIMATE IN GRAPHICS TOOLS

SUPERB GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

PLUS

A TOP QUALITY LIGHT PEN

Discover the exciting world of creating your own

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• FREEHAND DRAW - 5 pen thicknesses inc. Quills

• PAINT BRUSH - for the artistic touch

• FILL ANY SHAPE - use 1 6 colours and 1 1 patterns.

• GEOMETRIC SHAPES - circles, boxes, triangles, lines
& banding.

• DYNAMIC RUBBER BANDING on all geometric options.

• PIN-POINT FUNCTION - for pixel accuracy on all functions.

• SCREEN TO PRINTER DUMP ROUTINE

Plus many more too numerous to mention in this ad. All these
features in the Program + a top quality Light Pen and an
Instruction booklet in one reasonably priced package. Easy to use
for creating colourfull pictures or technical drawings. Ideal for use
by all ages of micro users. Full back-up service from
manufacturers. Available at good dealers or direct
from Trojan Products.

p?£ Ly

Micro Computer Software & Accessories

Send cheque/P.O. to.
TROJAN PRODUCTS
166 . Derlwyn, Dunvant. Swansea SA2 7PF
Tel: (0792) 205491 .
TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOMED

^S3T

LLAMA CAMELS

KSOn LONELY SALLOW
ZONAL PATROL
SPY SCHOOL

ksoh
ksoft

KSOFT
KSOFT

PAXMAN
PAXMAN
PAXMAN
MOSAIC
MOSAIC

RZZ

PERCY

RABBIT PAKACUQA

FPttCE SCNGMAKER

SPW ALF

FPROE SEA SPELLER

FPRCE DANCE FANTASY

FPRCE NUMBER TUMBLER

SPIN AGEANVOYAGE

FPRICE LOGICLEVELS
L0NGMN GO MICRO

ca auGGUJG

MOGUL ZETA

INCEPT DEFENDERS

INCEPT MSSU COMMANO

WCEPT WALLYG0EST0RHYME1AND

INCEPT CRAZYKONG

WCEPT BURGERT1ME

INCEPT WHEELWWALLY

INCEPT CFBNAMINER

INCEPT rXCOLYCUBURT

wcept afCNCrrr

INCEPT GET OFF MY GARDEN

INCEPT TOKEN OF GHALL

4NOPT VOftraRAJQER

WCEP1 SPRfTEMAN

COMM CARRIER'S MENU (2 TAPES)

COMM MAGGOTMAWA

COMM PATRICK MCORE ASTROLOGY

NTERO HERCULES

COMM B8C MASTERMIND

DORCAS ORACLES CAVE

TYMAC GAN0CLF THE SORCERER

INCEPT BIG BEN

INCEPT QUANGO

INCEPT GUZZLER

HESWAR MR T.N.T TURBO

HESWAH BOOTH' TOOTW' TURBO

HESWARPTT TURBO

VISION DAREDEVXDENN&F10NA

RABBIT CYCL0NS

RABBIT ESCAPEMCP

COMM DATA MUSIC

INCEPT HEFOES0FKARN

INCEPT TALES OF ARABIAN NIGHTS

INCEPT WHERE'S MY BONES?

WCEPT BIG TOP BARNEY

INCEPT JEWELS OF BABYLON

INCEPT EMPIRE OF KARN

INCEPT BREAK FEVER

INCEPT CAVERNS OF SIXAHC

WCEPT FRONT UNE

WCEPT CRYSTALS OF CARLS

WCEPT PULSE

INCEPT WLDRCe

COMM LET'S COUNT (2 TAPES)

HESWAR
LLAMA
PNGUIN
LLAMA

WORLD CUP FOOTBALL

PYRAMO

BEAKY AND EGG SNATCHER

M THE BEGINNING

UNORTHODOX ENGINEERS

NEW
BCBILL
KNOW YOUR 10
OSPREY

GHOST'S MANOR
MAMA LLAMA
CTTAOEL OF CHAOS
REVENGE OF MUTANT CAMElS

OCEAN ROLAND'S RAT PACE

AUG CHARTBUSTER

SPARKS MACBETH

SPARKS MERLIN

ELECT BUZZ Off

LLAMA MATRIX

LLAMA SHEEP W SPACE

SPARKS ORG ATTACK

TASKET POSTER PASTER

ADVWT SECRETMtSSION

SPARKS CE PALACE

SPARKS CHOPPER

SPARKS TASKMASTER

777777 SEASCeSPEOAL

MCRCG EVERYONE'S A WAUY

NEWGEN GATES OF OAWN

COMM LABYRINTH

COMM DANCING MONSTER

COMM NUMBER HUSTLER

SPARKS KAYAK

COMM SUPER BUTZ

MKGEN HERBERTS DUMMY RUN

SPARKS MAO DOCTOR NEW

SPARKS EWO MOTHER

MIRROR CAESARS TRAVELS

SPARKS COUNTDOWN TO MELTDOWN

RSHEP UPPERGUMTREE

COMM BIOLOGY

COMM MATHS I NEW

COMM MATHS I NEW

COMM GEOGRAPHY

COMM HtSTORY

COMM CHEMISTRY

COMM GERMAN

COMM COMPUTER STUDIES

VKSW rCEOUSBILL

VHON FALCON PATROL

LONGMNAGENTUSA

ALUGA SUNOFBLAGGER

ALUGA LOCO

AMROG PCRJZZ

PAXMAN EGBERT

PAXMAN FABULOUS WANDA

HARE HARERMSER

ORPHES WEB

CflPHES STAR FIGHTER

BUGBYT MISTER MEPHGT0

SFTPftJ THRUSTER

BUGBYT CAPTAJNKEO

SFTPRJ CRAZY BALLOONS
BUGBYT ANTICS
COMM HOEAN05EEK
AftOLA HARD HAT MAC
COMM STOP THE EXPRESS
COUJN THE REAL YOU
PRfiM GOLF
PFBSM TITANIC
PFBSM RATSPLAT
PRBM HEU0N
PFBSM AHCONCOR
AflTO BEAR BOWER
COMM CASTLE OF DREAMS
LOTH JOHNNY REB H
ARGUS SCHtZOFRENiA
ARGUS RUPERT

2.50

2.95

GMSMC SKLU
ABRASC SAM'S JAM
QUICK AQUAPLANE
OUKX STING M
BEV0N0 GOCOWSSGRACOUS
TERMIN STFJJADOOGER
PSS M06YDICK
MCflO JWN GENIE
HARE HAflERAISER
TERMIN SUPER GFBMER
TYNSfT 0LEVEL PHYSICS
TYNSFT LEVEL CHEMISTRY
TYNSFT 0LEVEL MATHS
TYNSFT LEVEL BIOLOGY
ARXXA 0NEONONF
ARXXA WILD WEST
ARI0LA BATALYX
AROLA D-EOG
OCEAN TORNADO LOW LEVEL
COMM RADAR RAT RACE
COMM GORF
COMM STAR RANGER
MSTNC LAST OF V8
COMM HARBOUR Am ACK
COMM STAR POST

QUKK BOOGABOO
OUCK ESCAPE
QUICK SEESAW
INCEPT SCRAMBLE
COMM OMEGA RACE
COMM TOOTH WVADERS
COMM MATCHMAKER
R'N'B M6SON2
rjGMARKAVIEWTOAKXL
COMARK CODE NAME MATT U
USGOLD GROG'S REVENGE
IJSGOLD DRELBS
TASK GYR0P0OS (DISC)
CENTUR SUPERBASKH
ENGSOf HENRY'S HOUSE VOLT
ENGSOF HENRY'S HOUSE V0L.2
ACTVSN MASTER OF THE LAMPS
ARKXA SPELLUNKER

Mf DIRECT MM DISCOUNT

THNEMI DANGER MOUSE

SFTPRJ MANIC MINER

AUDOG FRANTC FREDOIE

BUGBYT AUTOMAN

ARKXA HOPLIFTER

PRISM TURBO «

PRISM PILOT 64

PRISM SUPERMAN

TASKfT SUPER PIPELINE

OCEAN CHINESE JUGGLER

ARXXA VALKYRIE 17

SPARKS DANGER MOUSE IN 0. TROUBLE

THNEMI RIVER RESCUE

EUTE KOKOTWIWILF

SPARKS TTWM3GAMES)

VIRGIN FALCON PATROL H

USGOLD 2LWKY

AftOLA DAVOS MIDNIGHT MAGC

ANJROG FLIGHT PATH 737

TYNSR SUPERGRAN

COMM LAZARIAN

COMM GORTEX & MICROCHIPS

COMM WtZARDOFWAR

AUOOG ALICE N WONOERLANO

AN'F GUMSHOE

COMM KffRG TO BASIC VOL 1

COMM INTRO TO BASIC VOL 2

ARXXA STEALTH

SFTPRJ HARVEY SMITH SnOW-JUMPW

SFTPRJ JET SET WILLIE

BEYOND LORDS OF MONOHT

TASKET GYhOPOD

NOVA ENCOUNTER

BEYOND PSYTRON

DOMARK EUREKA

FtREBD SABRE WOLF

F1REBD LHDERWORLDE

ARXXA KAISER

FIREBD NIGHTSHADE

BEYOND SHADOWRRE

DOMARK SPUT PERSONALDIES

NEXUS NEXUS

ARGUS BROADSTREET NEW

ARGUS EVXCFOWN NEW

WFOGR VERACRUZ NEW

ASL GRAND MASTER CHESS NEW

PfTMAN prTMANTYPING NEW

INFOGR THE INHERITANCE NEW

3.50

PAXMAN J.FO/SKULLAVAfOAAXNOOft
WFOGR MANDRAGORE NEW

ADDICT FOOTBALL MANAGER NEW

MTECH SCUBA LXVE

PARA OUTBACK

MiRRCR CAESAR THE CAT

COMM CLOWNS

FRONT HTERVIEW

MELBHO HUNGRY HORACE

AN'F CHLCKIEEGG

LONGMN ZODIAC MASTER

USGOLD BOUNTY BOB STRIKES BACK

DREAMS SPY'S DEMISE

USGLXD BEACH HEAD

MIKGEN HUBERT'S DUMMY RUN

OCEAN GILJJGAN'S GOLD

COMM SPIRT OF THE STONES

DOMARK FRIDAY THE 1301

ACTVSN PASTHNOER

ACTVSN ROCK N BaT

ACTVSN ON COURT BASEBALL

ACTVSN ON COURT FOOTBALL

MELBHS MORDEN'S QUEST

INCENT CONFUZION

INFINI MOEBUS

TASK CADCAMWARPJOR

FIREBD DEMONS OF TOPAZ

GLOBAL MAGICIANS BALL

ORPHES EUDON

ENGSOF TOPPER COPPER

ENGSOf HENRY'S HOUSE

COMM GORTEX

USGOLD TAPPER

BUGBYT TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY

IMAGIN WORLD SERIES BASEBALL

LISGOLD F0R8ODEN FOREST

OCEAN HUNCHBACK II

OCEAN KONG

OCEAN KONG STRIKES BACK

SPARKS W1NGC0MMAN0ER

STATE FRAX

SPARKS SPARKLERS SPEOAL(4 GMS)

COSMI AZTEC CHALLENGE

ROMIK NORDIC WAR

ROMIK GRAPHIC EDfTOR

EDGE ALMAZZ

CRAIG SYSTEM 1500

MIRROR DYNAMITE DAN

FRUNER STORM WARRIOR

ARXXA RAID ON BUNGLING BAY

8ANOAO SOFTAJO

DREAMS Off THE HOOK

BEYOND QUAKE

ARGUS THEFOflCE NEW

DUKREL COMBAT LYNX NEW

WFOGR THE WHERfTANCE NEW

A CA COMM DEADLINE (DISC)

**-J\J COMM FANTASY RVE {DCO

OCEAN FRANIOE GOES TO HCUYW'D COMM RAIL BOSS (DBG)

ULT1M STAFF OF KARNATH COMM STAR CROSS (BSC)

OCEAN DALEY THOMPSON DECATH. COMM SUSPENDED (DISC)

ACTVSN BALLflLAZER COMM ZORK 1 (DISC)

ACTVSN EUXEXMACHWA COMM Z0RK2flXSQ

ACTVSN LITTLE COMPUTER PEOPLE COMM Z0RK3(DBC)
DREAMS MERMAID MADNESS

OCEAN TRANSFORMERS
«WU DEACTTVATDRS

4.95

INCEPT PANE

OUCK ULT1SYNTH

LEGENO VALHALLA

MINDGM ALIEN

BEYOND PSI.WARRIQR

MELBHO ZJMSALABIM

MELBHO HAMPSTTiAO

NEWGENj. BAflflJNGTONSSOUASH

ULTIM BLACK WYTCH'

ULTW MHOTEP

LISGOLD FORT APOCALYPSE

USGOLD BLUE MAX ;-— TZ^/W^.

COMM LOGO M I L .t* ,S SHERLOCK HOMES

ARTX WORLOCUPI

HEWSON GRJB8YS DAY OUT

MELBHS TERRORMOUNOS!

USGOLD ZAXXON

USGOLD BRUCE LEE

ARKXA MURDER ON ZJNOERNAUF

APJOLA ARCHON

ARXXA MULE

PSON MATCH POWT 64

GREMLN THING ON A SPRING

LEVELS SECHAflY OF ADRIAN MOLE J™" ^™"

OOW NODES Of YESOD "* F0Gfl WWDRAGORE

BEYOND ENIGMA FORCE
ACTVSN HERO
NEwACTVSN BEAMROER
ACTVSN PfTFALL
VIRGIN NOW! GAMES
CRL BLADE RUNNER
MELBHS STARON
MELBHS nGHTTNG WARRIOR
PARKER OBERT
ATARI DONKEY KONG
ATARI DG DUG
ORPHES THE YOUNG ONES
INCEPT MEGA COMPILATION
USGOLD DONALD DUCK
ATARI CENTIPEDE
COMM JACK ATTACK {CARTRIDGE)
USGOLD SUPER ZAXXON (DtSCJ
COMM MONEY MANAGER (DISC]

COMM HI FLYER (DEC)

ACTVSN TOUR D£ FRANCE

LEGEN KENSINGTON

COMM SPIFBT OF STONES {DISC}

ARKXA TTXX>C0WN FOOTBALL

VIRGIN NOW GAMES II

COMM PFCGRAMERS LmUTlES DEC

790

USGOLD ZORRO

MELBHS WAY OF EXPLODING RST

COMM EASY FIE (DISC)

COMM RJTURE RNANCE (DISC)

COMM SIMONS BASIC EXT 5fXDISC)

HESWAR CELL DEFENCE (DISK)

AflOA SKYFOX

APJOLA ARCH0N2

APJOLA WIZARD

APJOLA SCARABAEuS

ARXXA STARSHIP ANDROMEDA

AROLA MURDER ON 7JN0ERNEUF DISC

ARKXA WIZARD (DISC)

ARKXA KAISER (DISC)

ARXXA MULE (DISC)

COLLNS FORECASTER

9.95

ARKXA GOLF LXtBTRUCTON

AROLA RACWCONSTPJJCTBN

APJOLA MUSK fXNSTHUCTON

AROLA AflCHON(DtSK)

AROLA SKYFOX (DISK)

AROLA ADVENTURf CONST (DISK)

AROLA MAILORDER MONSTER (DISK)

NEW
ARKXA PWBALL CONSTRU.SETfOtSK)

NEW
ARKXA MUSIC CONSTRU SET(DISK)

NEW
MELBHO REVS

MASTER WTRO TO PROGRAMMING
(VHS)

OCEAN AN0R0O2
MCMLN SCREENPLAY
MCMLN MAGO
ACTVSN SPACE SHUTTLE
WFOGR VERACRUZ
GREMLN TRAIL BLAZER
FTl IJGHTFOFCE
CASCAD SKY RUNNER
OCEAN RAMFJO

5.95

SIERRI FRCGGER(D6C) MASTER WTRO TO PROG. VOL 2

AROLA LAPIS PHILOSOPHORUM(OISK) (VHS)

NEW HESWAR GRAPHICS BASK (DSC)
NEW HfSWAfl HESGAMES (DSC)
NEW ARKXA TTJLCHDOWN FOOTBALL I DEC 1
AMAZONfDtSC)

SELECT SELECT1..12 GAMES TV AOV

COMM SCCPE64

COMM ARCADE EXTRAVAGANZA DISC

O.7O TRILL CRACONWORLDE

USGOLD TIME TUNNEL WINDHM BELOW THE FOOT

BEYOND SPY Vs SPY WINOHMALCE W WONDERLAND

NEW ARKXA WILD WEST (DtSC) SPW RCCK'N'RhYTHM

p^APJOA BUG BLITZ (DISC) TRILL RENDEZVOUS WTTH RAMA

^ry-AROLA SAUCER AnACKpSC) AROLA MARBLE MAPNESSOXSK)NEW

Jjw, AROLA OEACTrVATORS(DISK) NEW

fJ^APOLA ONEONONEOXSK) NEW

Please add 30p per title for post and packing

To: AGF , Dept CI « 26 Van Gogh Place, Bognor Regis, West Sussex

i Compatible with Commodore
VIC 20, C64, C16, Plus 4, C128 a
and C128D Home Computers '

CITIZEN

TWO-COLOUR

DOT MATRIX PRINTER

ADD-ON GUIDE

Microvox

Package consists of sampling unit,
system disk (with 'start-up' samples)
and Library disk. The sampling unit
has two programmable 24dB/octave
filters and gives a S/N ratio of 59 dB.

Disk/Wafer Drives

Product Features

1541C Single disk drive unit, provides

greater storage capacity (170
Kbytes) faster retrieval than a
cassette unit

Enhancer Disk High data transfer rate, sleek design,
Drive 1541 compatible, free software

Accelerator Ultra compatible, compact size

very quiet, 1 year guarantee, 20%
faster than 1541C

1571 Double-sided, fast access times,

quiet in operation, half height

Speech Recognition & Synthesis

Product Features

Sweet Talker Synthesiser — allophone system,

3" square, 1 1 / 2 " high, gives examples
& demonstrations. Shape & colour
as Commodore

Voicemaster Unique 3-in-one package, speech
reproduction, speaks in own voice.
Voice harp — just whistle or hum to
produce music

SPEED LOADERS

Product

Epyx Fast Load
Cartridge

64

£229.95

Supersoft
01-861 1166

Commodore
Machine

Price

Company

64/128

£199.99

CBM UK

Commodore
0628 770088

C64/128

£115+VAT

Firstline
Software

C64/128

£159.95

Evesham
0386 419989

128

£249.00

Commodore

64 — when
used with 64 it
is basic
compatible

Commodore
Machine Price

64

64

£24.95

£59.95

Features

Has disk tools e.g. directory,
return to basic function, copy
(another menu).

Can be disengaged without turning
off machine. Can edit disks, has a
file utility, For trans-programming
you have S. Mon. which is a powerful
monitor. Numbers may be entered
in hex.

Machine

64,128

Price

£24.95

Company

Cheetah
0222 777337

Anco
0322 92513

Company

Centresoft
021 359 8881

Turbo Plus Add Turbo to basic or machine

code filers for faster loading. Also
scrolls listings up or down

C16, +4 £19.95

(with cartridge)

Anco
0322 92513

CONTINUSP 0NPR6E 124

Commodore Computing June 1987 123

Quickdisc

Turbo 64

1541 Express

ADD-ON GUIDE

Cartridge plugs into 64 and 1541 + 64
1570. Can be switched in and out
from the keyboard. Fast format, fast
backup, fast file copier. Reset switch.
Improved DOS commands. Is
compatible with printers and second
drives. Cure for 'save @ bug'.

A disk specially formatted with the 64
fast load feature built in. Once the
disk is made it will load on any
unmodified Commodore 64 and
1541 disk drive without having to
load anything first. Loading time is 5
times faster and programs can be
selected and run from a menu by the
press of a single key.

Cartridge — two leads clip inside the 64
computer. Works with most business
software.

Final Cartridge II Disk and Tape Turbo — up to
10 Times speed

Freeze Frame Keyboard extras
Basic 4.0 commands

64/128

£19.95

£19.99

£34.95

£39.00

Evesham
0386 49641

Cockroach
0633 440434

Ram

0252 850031

H&P

Computers
0376 511471

Expert Cartridge Program Paralyser R/I/1 „ Q

Sprite Extractor m/i^b

Hires Screen, Grabber, Programmable

Joysticks/Trackerballs

Product Features

£29.99

Trilogic
0274 684289

Delta 3SC

Vulcan
Gunshot I
Vulcan
Gunshot II

Quickshot 1

Quickshot 2

Quickshot 2
Turbo

Hotshot
(REVS)

Professional

Quickshot II+
Fantastick F3

Microswitch

Black, or black with red stripes, 3
fire buttons, light fast action

Cream & beige, 2 fire buttons
suction pad underneath
Black, 2 buttons, autofire, suction
pad underneath

Black & red, 2 fire buttons

Black & red, 2 fire buttons, autofire

Red, 2 fire buttons + auto.
Micro switched

Analogue, designed for Firebird
game. REVS, also switchable to
normal, one fire-button

Accurate, dual fire buttons, auto

fire select

Microswitches, large grip, dual

stick fire buttons

Dual fire button for left handed

people, sleek design

Metal shaft, very durable, large
fire button, accurate

Commodore
Machine

Price

Company

64, VIC 20

£12.00

Voltmace

128

0462 894410

64, VIC 20

128

64, VIC 20

128

£7.95
£8.95

Vulcan
01-203 6366
Vulcan

64, VIC 20

£7.95

Spectravideo

64, VIC 20

£9.95

Spectravideo

64, VIC 20

£14.95

Spectravideo
01-330 0101

64/128

£12.95

Meedmore
051-521 2202

£19.95

Euromax

64/128

£12.99
£6.99

01-368 1276
Palan

Vulcan
01-203 6366

64/128

£12.95

124 Commodore Computing June 1987

— i .. — ' — — — 1 „____ __ -. . ."-'. ' ■ ■■ '.-■--— ■■:,. '■'

ADD-ON GUIDE

Ballpoint

Machl

Speedking

Icon manipulation 16 colours
(any 4 usable at once), sections of
drawings may be picked up &
moved, drawings compatible with
light pen drawings, optical
trackerball, trackerball or joystick.

Black with 4 red

buttons. Moulded handgrip and an

autofire switch

Hand-held, moulded case, one
trigger-fire button

64/128

£29.95

64, VIC 20 £8.95

64/128
CT6+4VIC20

£12.99

Meedmore
051-521 2202

Cheetah
0222 777337

Konix

049 5255913

DIGITISERS

Computereyes

It will digitise from camera, video
recorder, video disk and images can
be stored on disk. Also
enhancements to allow the use of
computereyes with some of the
popular grpahic packages for the
Commodore.

64

£129 + VAT Stem

0382 65113
Mr. E Able

MISCELLANEOUS

Datapad 16C Keypad is a strong metal case. It
plugs in externally and comes
complete with software to define the
keypad to your choice of layout.

Centronics Cable Converts 64/20 to Centronics output

64

£34.95
incl.

Voltmace
0462 894410

£11.17 + VAT RAM

0252 850031

D150

Portable Printer, 150 characters per
sec. For executives — letters memos
& charts

£39.00

Norbain
0734 868855

Datel Sampler

MCS Plus
The Linker

AMS
Comdrum

Hardware incorporates full 8-bit D to 64 + 128 £49.99

A and ADC conversion. Software
includes sample editing

Combines interface, MIDI link and 64+128 £225

comprehensive disk software

System 7 for DX78TX7 Synth's 64

Editor, keyboard, linker synthesiser 64/128
and MIDI modules

Digital Drum Software. 20 voices, 64/128 £9.95

full sequencing and editing.

£219.66
(Software
only £79.99)

£39.95

Datel

0782 273815

Joreth Music
0386 831615

Joreth Music

Rainbird

Datel

Lightpens

Features

Trojan Lightpens Black. Will draw freehand, can

magnify or reduce, can fill in with
either colour or 2 different patterns

Machine

64, VIC 20,
+4C16

Price

£19.95

Company

Trojan
0792 205491

Commodore Computing June 1987 125

■ MW - T^ ! ■! ■ ! ; ! ' ? ■ '""■" ' ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ! " !?? !">"" M: ! - ! ! ! . ' - ' : 1 ' : ' ■ ' ■ ^ ' ":"■ ■ ' ""■■■ -■■ - -- ■ " ■ ' ■ ' ■ ; . . : ., , ■■ ;, ' ."" ■ , , ' ' "■ ■ I ■ ■ ' ■ ■ ' ■ ? - ! , ■ - ■ - ■ ■ ■■■ ■ ■ . ■ ■ ■■ - ■ - ■ ' : ' : : > > ' +, ' ■ , ■ ■ ,

ADD-ON GUIDE

Stack Light Pen Unique torch contact switch. 64, VIC 20

Pixel accurate supplied complete with
paintbox draw software and 10 pen
games. All standard features plus
animation and C.A.D. support.
Full colour

Mice Features

Datex Mouse Mouse, tape & disk software

The Magic Mouse Mouse, tape & disk software

MS 2000 V Optical encoding and a

comprehensive cassette + disk-based

software
Neos Mouse Cassette only. Software program

called cheese

Desk Top Includes 100 year calendar

calculator, diary, clock,
communication facilities, disk utilities
etc. And more. Use with mouse
joystick or keyboard. Cassette & disk.

£28.00

Meedmore
051 521 2202

Machine

Price

Company

64

£49.95

EEC 01-222 8122

64

£59.95

SMC 01-441 1698

64 12

£69

Wigmore
House

54/128

£44.90

Wigmore
House

54/128

£18.50
incl. VAT

Wigmore
House

01-734 8826

MOTHERBOARDS

Stack

64, VIC 20
128/128D

£28.00

Meedmore
051 521 2202

4 slot motherboard (adaptor). Has a
unique switching system for each of
the 4 cartridge slots which allows
the user to turn on and off cartridges
without removing them from the
computer.

ATTENTION ALL
PROGRAMMERS!!

I ou may be an experienced programmer - you may be a beginner. Either way, you may have!
come across some useful tips which could make life easier for other CCI readers.

Or maybe you have written a program, either in Basic or assembly language, that you feel is worthy
of publication.

CCI always welcomes contributions from readers. We will publish any suitable listings or
programming advice... and we'll pay you for it!

If you wish to contribute something for publication, we require programs on cassette or disk,
together with any additional explanatory information and a CLEAR printout of any listings. (The better
the original printout, the better the reproduction in the magazine.)

Please enclose a SAE if you wish to have your program returned to you. Please package disks or
cassettes carefully!

The address to send contributions to is:
The Editor,

Commodore Computing International,
Finsbury Business Centre,
40 Bowling Green Lane,
London EC1 RONE

Don't forget. . .CCI welcomes programs for all Commodore computers - 64, Plus/4, CI 6, 1 28 plus
the VIC and PET.

126 Commodore Computing June 1987

OUNT ABILITY

is a powerful suite of programs which can pro-
vide a business with a helpful and informative
method of financial control.
This superb system combines the accuracy,
discipline and reliability of traditional accounting
methods with a friendliness and flexibility that
only an integrated system can provide.

Currently available for your Commodore 128,

128D or 8000 series computer.

Imminent Release for Commodore 64 and P.C.

buNT

§!UT¥ @

MAJOR F E

□ COMPREHENSIVE HELP SCREENS □ QUICK CREA-
TION OF ACCOUNTS □ ACCOUNT NUDGE FACILITY

□ TEMPORARY ACCOUNT FACILITY □ MULTIPLE VAT
RATE CAPABILITY □ MULTIPLE BANK ACCOUNTS

□ FULL AUDIT TRAIL □ UP TO 64 LEVELS OF USER
SECURITY □ CASH SALE FACILITY □ AUTOMATIC
TRANSACTION AGEING □ AUTOMATIC DISCOUNTS

□ TRANSACTION MESSAGES □ OPEN ITEM OR B/F
ON ANY ACCOUNT □ DAYBOOK, STATEMENTS, RE-
MITTANCE/CHEQUES □ 24 REPORTS □ SCREEN
DUMP FACILITY □ UP TO 53 PERIODS PER YEAR

□ SUPPORTS UP TO FOUR COMMODORE DISK
UNITS □ SUPPORTS UPTO FOUR PRINTERS INCLUD-
ING CENTRONICS.

For further information
or details of your local
stockist contact:

£99.

99

INC VAT

MICROHEX COMPUTERS UNION STREET TROWBRIDGE
WILTSHIRE BA14 8RY TEL: (02214) 63828

FU LLY I NTEG RATED SALES PURCHASE & NOMINAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING

micR^sniPS

Telephone: 051-630 3013

LTD

37 Seaview Road

Wallasey, Merseyside

L45 4QN

051-691 2008

C64C Connoisseur Pack

£234.95

Citizen 120D Printer inc Corr

modore

C129DincDS 1571 Drive

£499.95

Interface

£299.95

C128D inc 1900M Monitor

£625.00

MPS801 Ribbon

£6.99

1571 Drive for 128

£269.95

MPS803 Ribbon

£3.99

1541C Drive 64/128

£199.95

1200 Ribbons

£3.99

1901C Hi-Res Col-Monitor

£339.95

1000 Sheets Fanfold

£8.99

1900M Mono Monitor (128)

£149.95

2000 Sheets Fanfold

£15.99

Thomson/C64 Colour Monitor £239.95

5 1 / 4 " Lockable Disc Box

Music Expansion System

£139.95

(Holds 100)

£10.95

Sound Sampler C64/128

£29.95

Disk Nibbler

£4.99

C64/128 Motherboard

£19.95

C64/128 Printer Lead

£3.99

Action Replay

£24.95

Centronics Lead + Software

£19.95

Freeze Frame III B

£39.95

1701/1901 Dust Cover

£3.95

Expert Cartridge

£31.50

C64/VIC Dust Cover

£5.99

Citizen 2 colour C64/1 28 Printer £44.50

C128 Dust Cover

£7.99

Silver Reed Daisywheel inc

364/128

Dolphin DOS (Specify 68 or 1

28) £68.50

Connexion

£139.95

Wide range of leads, cables, software

and accessories.

SEND FOR FULL LIST QUOTING

CCI

If it's released — we stock it — please phone us
OPEN SIX DAYS

Send SAE lor lull lists

HAL ORDER

Chequa&P.O. peyab'e *>:

HCROSMPS LTD

) AM 5p in £ Postage; MdlfttitC Europe at coal - other counwes

EJ^I

IF YOU THINK THE 64 IS ONLY A GAMES MACHINE. THINK AGAIN!

Polynomial

A NEW AND EXCITING METHOD OF STUDY FOR THE COMMODORE 64/128

Polynomial is the first program of its kind which offers a DYNAMIC way of learning and studying.

However it is not one of those boring question and answer types of Educational Software. Polynomial

allows you to put the questions and helps you find the answers. Students of all levels from all subjects

could find Polynomial an INVALUABLE AID to their studies.

WHAT DOES POLYNOMIAL OFFER YOU?

Polynomial combines 3 powerful number crunching routines with an EXCITING GRAPHICS facility to

form one of the most powerful educational software packages available for the Commodore 64/128.

• ROOTS - Solves linear and non-linear equations and can find both real
and imaginary roots. Results can be verified using the powerful
GRAPHICS module.

• CURVE FITTING - Calculates polynomials to fit a set of data points.
Helps you interpret your data and solve the awkward experiments
QUICKLY and EFFORTLESSLY. Plot both the data points and the
resultant polynomial on the same screen.

• SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS - Can solve up to 34 simultaneous
equations easily and efficiently. Equations clearly formatted on the
screen. Solutions are calculated in seconds. Enormous potential as a
problem solver.

• GRAPH PLOTTING - This extremely POWERFUL module has
INCREDIBLE potential for learning. Plot results of all your experiments
draw graphs of your polynomial equations and their DIFFERENTIALS, as
many as you like all on the same screen. These are plotted on a high
accuracy, high-res screen, choose double or single axis graphs.

THIS EXCELLENT PACKAGE IS IDEAL FOR CSE, '0' LEVEL, 'A' LEVEL AND DEGREE STUDIES
AND CAN BE YOURS FOR AS LITTLE AS £14.95 - UNBELIEVABLE VALUE!

Price INCLUDES detailed manual in an attractive protective case. Postage and Packaging FREE.
SEND FOR YOUR COPY NOW! _,
Write FREEP0ST to: "

Insight Software Systems Limited

INSIGHT SOFTWARE. FREEP0ST P0 Box 27, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG22 4BR

Please send me copyliesl of Polynomial

Tick as appropriate j~J Cassette £14.95 □ Disc £19.95
□ Cheque Q P.O.

Name

Address

CCI

Signature

Please allow up to 28 days for delivery.

Date_

f STACK COMPUTER PRODUCTS

C64 C128 C128D

SWITCHABLE

4-SLOT

MOTHERBOARD

SPECIFY

MODEM

OR

NORMAL

VERSION

•USE COMPATIBLE
CARTRIDGES TOGETHER
•SAVES UNPLUGGING & WEAR

C64 128 +4 VIC 20 C128D

PROFESSIONAL
.RS232 SERIAL
.INTERFACE

• TYPEWRITER

• PRINTER
•MODEM
•OTHER COMPUTER

•Connect any serial device to
your computer,
i • Easyscript, Superscript, Scrip
128 etc. compatible.
' Send and receive

5'/„" LOCKABLE DISK
STORAGE BOXES WITH RIGID
INDEX SEPARATORS.

C64/C128 128D

A A*

•DISK & TAPE TURBO
•CENTRONICS l/F
•TOOL KIT
•GAMES KILLER
•RESET SWITCH
•FREEZER

5'/ 4 "

FLOPPY DISKS

INC. LABELS, SLEEVES,

WRITE TABS
•A 10 Super Quality Doubled

Sided in Library Case.
•B 10 Standard quality in
polythene bag.

C64 C128 128D

AA

FREEZE

FRAME
MKIV

£28.95

r w i

• DISK TO TAPE/TAPE TO TAPE.
•TAPE TO DISK/DISK TO DISK.
•MULTIPART PROGS
HANDLED.
•SIMPLE OPERATION.

C64 128 +4 C16 VIC 20 128D

£59.95

UNIVERSAL
CENTRONICS INTERFACE

•TYPEWRITER

•PRINTER

•PLOTTER

•Fully CBM compatible.
.•Full Graphics on Dot Matrix
Printers.

•Use 341 on Plus 4.
•Chainable with Disk

1540 1541 1550 1570

NOTCHER

HALVE DISK COSTS

•Use both sides on single
sided drives.
•Tested on all our Disks.

C64/C128 128D

EXPERT ME fS*DISK
CARTRIDGE DRIVE
• NOW WITH ESM
•FREEZER WITH ONE FILE
& COMPACTING.

•TURBOS & UPGRADABLE.

•MONITOR & GAMES KILLER.

•DISK TO TAPE ETC.

* IF YOU BUY THE WRONG ONE WE WILL EXCHANGE IT FOR ANOTHER

HIGH

QUALITY

RIBBONS

•MPS801

•MPS802

•MPS803

•1525

•1526

•DPS1101

•MX/FX80

3.54
393
3.92
3.35
3.93
3.52
3.78

ALL OTHERS AVAILABLE

VIC
MODULATOR

64
TRANSFORMER

'1126.95

BS3120

FROSTED -BLACK TRIMMED
ANTI-STATIC FIRE RETARDANT

64/20/16

Plus 4

128

128D

C2N/1 530/1 531

1541/1570

1571

MPS801

1701

2.75
2.75
3.50
4.50
2.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
6.00

•4 SLOT
MOTHERBOARD
SWITCHABLE

•3/1 6K RAM PACK £34.95
•3/16/32K RAM PACK £49.95

K.95

ALL CBM SPARES
SUPPLIED

•16KRAM PACK

#9.95

C64 '128 128D

SLOMO

•Slow or stop any Program.
•Sloyv or Pause Listings.
•Stop Action or Instructions
while you think.
•Cheat Time Limit' Games.

FREE 40 PAGE

CATALOGUE ON

REQUEST OR WITH

ORDER

PRICES INCLUDE VAT

P&P£1.90

(FREE OVER £20)

C64 128 128D or VIC 20

LIGHTPEN

DRAW ACCURATELY ,
ON SCREEN

•Superb precise drawing
package COMPLETE.
•Save, Load & Print Pictures.
•Really useable.
• 10 Games included.

MAGIC DISK
Fix 1541/1570
SPEED &
ALIGNMENT
SIMPLY

ALIGN & CLEAN
ALL CBM TAPE
DECKS ON ALL
CBM'S SIMPLY

C64/C128 128D

NEOS MOUSE

& CHEESE CASSETTE

•COMPLETE MOUSE
GRAPHICS PACKAGE.
•JOYSTICK MODE INCLUDED.

DATA RECORDER

•PIANO KEYS.

•RECORD (SAVE) LIGHT.

•COUNTER.

•C16/+4 ADAPTOR £2 EXTRA

MEEDMORE
(Distribution) LIMITED

28 Farriers Way
Netherton, Merseyside,
L30 4XL

Tel: 051-521 2202

{ $sm.

COMMODORE REPAIRS

Commodore Repairs By Commodore Approved Engineers

CBM Power Supplies C64/+4/12S7Vic 20 £1j>-°°

Vic 20 Modulators emnn

CBM 64/CBM+4/CBM 16 from IS' nn

CBM Disc Drives from coc'nn

128/128D from ws.uu

Atari repairs also
For more details write with SAE or telephone:

G.C. BUNCE & SON

36 Burlington Road, Burnham, Bucks SL1 7BQ.

Tel: (06286) 61696 Mon-Fri 9am.-6pm.

COMPUTER REPAIRS

SPECTRUM, COMMODORE, AMSTRAD,
ACORN, BBC etc.

Fixed charge repairs on all makes
Please ring for details:

MCE SERVICES

33 Albert Street,

Mansfield, NottsNG18 1EA

Tel: 0623 653512

MICRO
WORKSHOP

COMMODORE REPAIR
SPECIALISTS

Also repair Sinclair, Amstrad

and BBC.

3 month warranty

12 Station Approach,

Epsom, Surrey.

Telephone: 03727 21533

BETPRO II

The Punter's Ultimate Horse Race Rating Program.
BETPRO II incorporates the following outstanding features:

* The option to develop and test your own unique rating formula, and the save and load
it when required.

* The tried and trusted BETPRO race rating formula is easily accessible for Punters
who do not wish to develop their own rating formula.

* Simple data entry and user friendliness are standard features of the BETPRO II
Program and Instruction booklet.

* BETPRO II is ideal for regular and occasional Punters alike.

BETPRO II is available for the CBM 64, 128 (64 Mode), Plus/4 and Commodore 16. Tape
Version £9.95. Disc version £11.95.

TORNADO 64

For fast-loading and auto-run independent back-ups of slow-loading Basic an/or

Machine Code Programs, as well as existing TORNADOS.

TORNADO 64 is packaged with a detailed information sheet which includes details on

how to display a loading screen picture and/or text, linking multi-part TORNADO loading

programs, plus lots of other pokes to alter TORNADO'S loading format to suit your

requirements.

TORNADO 64 is available for the CBM 64 & 128 (64 Mode). Tape version only. Price£4.95.

RAMSOFT UTILITIES GIVE POWER WITHOUT THE PRICE

All prices include p&p. Allow 7 days for delivery
Send cheque. P.O. or Cash to:

RAMSOFT, Dept CC1 1, 24 Bankfield Lane, Norden, Rochdale, Lanes. OL11 5RJ

CROYDON COMPUTER
CENTRE

29 Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath,

Surrey, CR4 7JJ Tel: 01 683 2646

COMPUTER SERVICING

(Est'd since 1979)

We repair — on the premises — quick

turnround

* Commodore & Spectrum

+ BBC & Electron (Approved Service Centre)

* Amstrad & Torch (Approved Service Centre)

* Disc Drives, Printers. Monitors
Mall Orders by phone Access & Visa accepted |

BUDGET YOUR HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES.
Fast program gives complete control. Lists all
bills, B.Os., etc. with automatic transfer.
Complete record ot every transaction. ALL
Amstrad, Sinclair & Commodore models.
£8.45.

Full details
LONGAE, P.O. Box 6, Amlwch, LL68 9NW.

JUST RELEASED for the C64 S-

forth. Forth language on disk
£24.90. S-lisp. Lisp language on
cartridge £44.90. A. Shraddhan, 45
Swift Close, Letchworth, Herts
SG6 4LL. Tel: (0462) 675305.

FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT

Three Classic Football Management Strategy Games for all enthusiasts. Each of these QUAL-
ITY games Is packed with GENUINE FEATURES to make them the most REALISTIC around.

PREMIER LEAGUE

A COMPREHENSIVE LEAGUE GAME - Play all teams home & away. Full squad details all teams.
Injuries, Team styles, In-match substitutes, Named & recorded goal scorers, Comprehensive trans-
fer market, 5 Skill levels. Financial problems, Team Training, Continuing Seasons, Save game,
Opposition Select Strongest Team and MUCH MUCH MOREI 64/1 28k Commodore £6.50

WORLD CHAMPIONS

ACOMPLETEWORLDCUPSIMULATION-From the first friendlies, qualifying stages, tour matches
and on to the FINALS - Select from squad of 25 players, 2 In-Match substitutes allowed, Discipline
table, 7 Skill levels and MUCH MUCH MORE) Includes a full text match simulation with Injuries,
Bookings, Sending off, Corners, Free kicks, Match timer, Injury time, Extra time, Goal times and
MORE! 64/128k Commodore £7.95

EUROPEAN II

CAPTURES THE FULL ATMOSPHERE OF EUROPEAN COMPETITION - Home & away legs, Away
goals count double (if drawn), Full penalty shoot out (with SUDDEN DEATH), 7 Skill levels, 2 subs
allowed, Pre-match team news, Discipline table, Full team & substitute selection, Disallowed Goals
and MUCH MUCH MORE! Plus FULL TEXT MATCH SIMULATION. 64/128k Commodore £7.95

FANTASTIC VALUE - Buy any 2 games deduct £2.00; buy all 3 games deduct £3.00

All games are available lor IMMEDIATE DESPATCH by 1st CLASS POST and include FULL

INSTRUCTIONS (add £1.00 outside UK)

From E & J SOFTWARE, Room C 1,37 Wfestmoor Road, ENFIELD, Middlesex, EN3 7LE

COMPUTER REPAIRS (UK)

REPAIRS TO ALL MAKES OF
MICROCOMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS

SPECTRUM £20.00

COMMODORE 64 £30.00

BBC £30.00

ELECTRONS £24.00

• 48 HOUR TURN ROUND

• ALL REPAIRS GUARANTEED

• TRADE CONTRACTS WELCOME

• DISCOUNTS FOR EDUCATIONAL
ESTABLISHMENTS

COMPUTER REPAIRS LTD.

2 AUSTINS PLACE

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, HERTS HP2 5HN

Tel: (0442)217624

Hobbies Exchange

B.ESET
SWITCH

Only £4-99 ^ f „

Reset The Computer* Poke..

Mail Order
Callers Welcome
Visa SB/Card
•Just Plug In

• Use Pokes

• Break into Your Games

36 Westgate, Elland,
West Yorkshire HX5 OBB.

Tel: (0422) 833801
MBX JRC3 C/NET

THE FINAL CARTRIDGE II®

THE GREATEST UTILITY EVER FOR THE COMMODORE 64/1281

SPECIAL CCI OFFER ONLY £30.00!

(OFFER EXPIRES MAY 31st)

I m«gK DRIVEN

? 6 E SUB MENUS
Colour Changes
* rese(s ■ ,/«,rial screendumpmg

SSSSau

"^rkad Scrolling UP and down.

eCBM

ITcanr

lj *M> s

■>r

K^P;

p rtiirs
codes
lnc/ L -

Res,

f roni

Koa;

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C<C*d9<5

/ MSS

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"o fl ,

55s»iT2?S

L9S?fi>

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BLUE CHIP DISK DRIVE

The Blue Chip BCD/5.25 is a 100% Commo-
dore compatible Disk Drive. Works with
Commodore C64, C128, SX64, Plus 4, and
Vic 20. With its external power supply you will
no longer lose your programs due to over-
heating. Smaller, quieter and more efficient.
Runs 1,000's of programs written for Com-
modore Computers. Compatible with Final
Cartridge II.
ONLY £177.00 incl.

FLOPPY DISK BARGAINS

Have we gone crazy??? Just look at these
prices! Top quality 5.25 floppy disks with a
100% Guarantee. Complete with labels and
write protect tabs.

JUST £6.00 per box of ten. OR £10.00 for
twenty. Hurry while stocks last.

3.5 disks only £25.00 per box of ten. OR
£48.00 for twenty.

EPROM CARDS

Internal switchable 3 Eproms and 1 Kernal

ROM card. £30.00.

External 2 Eprom Card. £20.00.

MOTHER BOARDS

5 slot Mother Board. Takes up to 5 Cartridges

all switchable. With reset switch. £42.50.

2 Slot Mother Board. Takes 2 Cartridges

(switchable) with reset switch. £19.95 incl.

H & P MOUSE

When is a mouse not a mouse? When it acts
just like a joystick. The H & P Mouse can do
everything a joystick can do only better and
with more accuracy. Works with nearly all
games and graphics programs that use a
joystick. Once you have used the H & P
Mouse you will not want to return to a
joystick. Microprocessor controlled for
greater accuracy.

ONLY £52.95 incl.

EPROM PROGRAMMER

Now an Eprom programmer that's within the
reach of most pockets. The Micro-Prommer
V.1.0 fits neatly into the cartridge port of the
C64/C128. It will program 2716 (2KB), 2732
(4KB), 2764 (8KB), and 27128 (16KB) Eproms.
Complete with software and instruction.
ONLY £53.45 incl.

Eprom Eraser to go with the Micro-Prom-
mer. Can erase up to 30 Eproms in 3-4
minutes.
ONLY £52.45 incl.

CITIZEN 120D PRINTER

Fast 120 cps in draft mode and 24 cps in NLQ
mode. Supports both Epson and IBM Graphic
characters and modes. We recommend this
printer for use with the Final Cartridge. We
supply the 120D complete with Centronics
interface and printer lead for Commodore
C64/C128 computers. Up to 240 dots per
inch in Bit Image Mode.
ONLY £230.00 OR Complete with Final
Cartridge II £260.00. Please add £5.00 for
carriage.

CENTRONICS PRINTER
CABLE

Commodore 64/128 user port
to Centronics printer cable. The
cable is fitted with a line feed
switch for use on Epson type
printer. No more taking the
printer apart to change the line-
feed. Recommeded for use with
the Final Cartridge. Compatible
with Superscript and Superbase
etc.
ONLY £15.00 incl.

SERIAL EXTENSION
CABLE

Extend your Disk Drive or Com-
modore Printer cable by up to 2
meters.

1 Meter Cable £6.00 incl.

2 Meter Cable £8.00 incl.

DISK NIBBLER

Use both sides of your disk.
Save the cost of the nibbler with
just one box of disks even at our
prices.
£5.00 incl.

H&P COMPUTERS LTD
9 Hornbeam Walk,
Witham,
Essex CM8 2SZ
Tel: (0376)511471

LAST COMMANDS

A utility, to emulate the 'retrieve last
command' that is available on most
professional computers.

On a large number of 'Professional'
computers, a facility known as a "Last
command recall" can be found. This
facility enables the user to search for,
and view the last command which he
has entered. The benefit of this is, that
should he forge the command/statement
he used to carry out a certain operation,
then at the touch of a key, he can lock
back at what he had done previously.
Obviously there must be a limit to how
many commands/statements which can
be 'remembered', otherwise you would
end up having to search through a list as
long as your arm, in which case it would
most likely be quicker to have a re-think
about the command, and then enter it
manually.

The "Last Commands" utility shown
here, will remember up to 20 commands/
statements (which should be maximum
of 37 characters in length). Once the

C. R. Whitaker

maximum limit has been reached, the
next command/statement will be entered
at position 1, eraising the first one
entered. This 'wrap around' effect will
occur each time the maximum limit has
been reached. When first run, the
default maximum is 20, however this can
be changed by entering LIMIT followed
by a number between 1 and 20. If you
enter a lower limit ie. 10, then all
commands/statements following that
limit will be erased, ie. 11-20, and the
next command entered will appear at
position 1. If a higher limit is chosen ie.
15 from 10, then the next command
entered will appear at the position
following the last command entered, ie.
11.

To search through the list of com-
mands, use F7 to search forwards or F5
to search backwards. Alternatively, you
may display a complete list of the

commands used by keying F8 (shift/F7),
this will give you the COMMAND
HISTORY, and the current limit chosen.

Since this utility is 'interrupt driven', it
is advisable to de-activate the utility
before using either the datacorder or
disk drive, since it may interfere with the
process of saving or loading. This can
be achieved by entering KILL before any
tape or disk operation. Having KILLed
the utility, you then have the option of
either re-activating whilst preserving the
previous stored information, ie. carrying
on from where you left off, or re-
activating and clearing all the previously
stored information, in effect starting
from scratch. In either case, the last limit
chosen will still be in force. To re-
activate and preserve the information,
enter SYS 49980. To start from scratch,
enter SYS 49152.

To speed up or slow down the
scanning of remembered commands
POKE 50102,X where 1 = very fast and
255 = slow.

NE"1000+ (X*10) "CHECKSUM <> n A:ST0P

1 REM **********************************

2 REM * *

3 REM * LAST COMMAND BY CLIVE WHITAKER *

4 REM * *

5 REM **********************************
10 L= 49152

20 FOR X=0 TO 68 :T=0:FOR Y=0 TO 14
30 READ A: IF A <0 OR A >255 THEN 60
40 POKE L, A:L=L+1:T=T+A:NEXT
50 READ A:T=T-( INT(T/256)*256)
60 IF TOA THEN PRINT"DATA ERROR IN LI
70 PRINT 1000+ (X* 10 ) n OK n : NEXT

80 PRINT n ACTIVATED":SYS 49152:NEW

1000 DATA 120,' 169, 135, 162, 192, 141,004,003, 142,005,003, 169, 106, 162, 192
1010 DATA 141,008,003, 142,009,003, 169,071, 162, 192, 141,020,003, 142,021
1020 DATA 003,088, 169,000, 162, 197, 133,251, 134,252, 168, 169,000, 145,251
1030 DATA 200,208,249,230,252, 165,252,201,208,208,241, 169,000, 162, 197
1040 DATA 133,251, 134,252, 134,254, 169,003, 133,253,096, 173, 142,002,201
1050 DATA 001,240,013, 165, 197,201,003,240,016,201,006,240,015,076,049
1060 DATA 234, 165, 197,201,003,208,247,076, 141, 193,076,011, 193,076,072
1070 DATA 193, 032, 115, 000, 240, 012, 201 , 076, 240, 011 , 201 , 075, 240, 010, 201
1080 DATA 075,240,009,076,231, 167,076,232, 193,076,000, 195,076,000, 195
1090 DATA 160,000, 185,000,002,201,048, 144,007,201,058, 176,003,076, 124
1100 DATA 165, 173,000,207,201,020,240,093,238,000,207,032, 155, 195, 165
1110 DATA 020, 145,251,200, 165,021,201,000,240,005, 145,251,076, 184, 192
1120 DATA 169,032, 145,251,200, 169,032, 145,251,200, 185,253,001,201,000
1130 DATA 240,006, 145,251, 192,037,208,242, 169,032, 192,037,240,006, 145
1140 DATA 251,200,076,203, 192, 169, 141, 145,251,200, 169, 145, 145,251, 173
1150 DATA 007,207,205, 155, 192,240,013,238,007,207, 165,251, 166,252, 141
1160 DATA 008,207, 142,009,207,032,099, 195,076, 124, 165, 169,000, 162, 197
1170 DATA 133,251, 134,252, 169,000, 141,000,207,076, 158, 192, 173,007,207
1180 DATA 201,000,240,035,032, 192, 195, 173,001,207,205,007,207,240,027
1190 DATA 160,000, 177,253,200,032,210,255, 192, 03 p 7, 208, 246, 238, 001 , 207
1200 DATA 032, 127, 195,032, 181, 195,032,205, 195,076,049,234, 169,000, 141
1210 DATA 001,207, 169,003, 133,253, 169, 197, 133,254,076.029, 193, 173,007

169
203
074
126
026
127
045
055
049
105
043
048
186
094
151
142
000
052
170
112
071
205

Commodore Computing June 1987 131

LAST COMMANDS

. . . COtTfiNUfP

1220
1230
1240
1250
1260
1270
1280
1290
1300
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1530
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1680

DATA
DATA
DATA
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DATA
DATA
DATA
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DATA
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DATA
DATA
DATA
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DATA
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DATA
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DATA
DATA

207,

201,

000,

000,

240,

024,

206,

001,

207,

141,

001,

207,

009,

207,

133,

002,

207,

142,

251,

169,

197,

255,

169,

032,

246,

032,

099,

171,

173,

002,

205,

195,

076,

032,

115,

000,

115,

000,

201,

234,

201,

049,

032,

115,

000,

141,

014,

196,

014,

196,

169,

032,

247,

183,

165,

020,

201,

141,

008,

196,

207,

141

006,

207,

170,

173,

234,

032

113,

134,

254

169,

208,

241

, 173,

141,

008

207,

173,

008

207,

162,

197

133,

000

240

,003,

076,

231

167,

208

239

,032,

162,

165,

141,

142

009

,003,

228,

167

234,

004

003

, 142,

169,

071

162,

105

040

, 133,

040,

133

251,

133

253

, 165»

253,

165

254,

179

032

,221,

000,

096

234,

120

169

,049,

071

162

192,

018

032

,067,

082

089

032,

083

,069

,084,

,240,034
, 160,000
,032, 181
, 173,008
,254,076
,003,207
, 133,252
,032,210
, 195, 160
,207, 174
,049,234
,201,077
,084,208
, 144,211
,201,000
, 141,005
,207, 133
, 165,021
,021, 176
, 165,020
,207, 165
,008,207
, 195,202
, 000, 145
,007,207
, 142,009
, 174,009
,253, 134
,076,228
,032, 115
, 115,000
,004,003
, 169,049
,234,234
,005,003
, 192, 141
,251, 165
, 165,252
>254, 105
,233,000
, 189, 173
,234, 160
, 162,234
, 141,020
,079,077
, 141,017
,032,084

,032,

192,

195,

032,

, 177,

253,

200,

032,

, 195,

032,

205,

195,

,207,

133,

253,

230,

,092,

193,

032,

192,

, 169,

219,

160,

195,

, 177,

251

201

000,

,255,

177,

251,

200,

,000,

076

169

, 193,

,003,

207,

133,

251,

,076,

231

167

032,

,208,

239,

032,

115,

,225,

032

115

000,

,201,

058

176,

207,

,240,

017

,201

,048,

,207,

076

060,

194,

,035,

169

,004

, 133,

,201,

000

,208

,003,

,247,

173

,013

. 196,

, 141,

155

, 192

,205,

,020,

141

,007

,207,

, 133,

251

, 173

,009,

.,208

250

, 165

,251,

,253,

200

,208

,249,

', 141,

000

,207

,032,

,207,

076

,221

, 194,

,207

133

,251

, 134,

,254,

169

,000

,141,

I, 167

076

,231

, 167,

, 000,

201

,073

,208,

1,201

076

,240

,003,

, 142,

005

,003

, 169,

, 162

234

, 141

,020,

,234,

234

,234

,234,

\, 169

, 106

, 162

, 192,

,020,

003

, 142

,021,

,252

105

,000

, 133,

,233,

000

, 133

,252,

,000

, 133

,254

,096,

, 133,

254

,096

, 172,

t,001

001

, 133

,020,

,255,

162

,255

,202,

., 141

,020

,003

, 142,

,003,

142

,021

,003,

',077

065

,078

,068,

,000,

141

,032

,032,

,079

046

,046

,046,

, 141, 195
,210,255
,076,049
,253,230
, 195, 165
,032,030
,240,028
,032,210
, 169,243
, 134,252
, 115,000
,000,201
,201,032
, 141,004
, 144, 190
, 141,005
,034, 169
,076,088
, 141,007
,007,207
, 173,006
,207, 133
, 166,252
,230,254
, 113, 195
, 173,007
,252,032
,001,207
,032,072
,246,032
,076,231
,228, 162
,003, 142
, 120, 169
, 141,008
,003,088
,252,096
,096, 165
, 165,253
,000,207
, 173,002
,208,253
,021,003
,088,096
,032,072
,076,073
,018,032

, 173,

001,

207,

201,

, 192,

037,

208,

246,

,234,

173,

007,

207,

,253,

230,

253,

173,

,251,

166,

252,

141,

, 171,

160,

000,

132,

, 169,

032,

032,

210,

,255,

192,

038,

208,

, 160,

195,

032,

030,

,032,

181,

195,

032,

,201,

073,

208,

246,

,073,

208,

232,

032,

,240,

249,

234,

234,

,207,

141,

013,

196,

,201,

058,

176,

186,

,207,

169,

032,

141,

,002,

032,

181,

183,

, 194,

076

,247

194,

, 196

173

014

196,

, 176,

086

173,

007,

,207

056

,237

007,

,252,

032

,099

195,

, 160

000

, 133

253,

, 165,

254

201

202,

, 165

251

, 166

252,

,207

141

,000

207,

,099

195

, 169

003,

, 173,

005

207

201,

, 178

076

234

194,

, 115

000

201,

076,

, 167

120

169

124,

, 167,

141

,008,

003,

,021

003

088

076,

, 135

162

192,

141,

,003

, 142

,009

003,

,096

165

,251

024,

, 165

251

,056

233,

,253

024

105

040,

,056

233

040

133,

, 169

000

,032

145,

,001

133

021

160,

, 1*36

208.

248

096,

,088

096

120,

169,

, 000

141

032,

032,

,073

083

084,

079,

,077,

073

084,

032,

,050

048

032,

141,

132 Commodore Computing June 1987

The (%/L Software Centre

^gW ^WT 1 PRINCETON STREET LONDON WC1 R 4AL TEL 01 430 0954

The specialist centre for Commodore 64, 128 and Amiga

oOfBCtBG nemSmXTI SIOCK

Software for CBM64/1 28 d=dtok r=cartrldg*

ACCOUNTS

Anagram Sales Ledger (64 or 128) d £35.00

Purchase/Nominal Ledger with journal d £35.00

Cashbook d £35.00

Fieldmaster Sales Ledger d £35.00

Purchase Ledger d £35.00

Sage Popular Accounts (128) d £90.00

Payroll (128) d £69.00

Invoicing (128) d £69.00

Supercombo (Account, Invoicing, Payroll) ..d £190.00

Studio Payroll 64 d £44.00

Payroll 128 d £44.00

Dell Invoice Generator d £20.00

Fieldmaster Home Accounts d £10.00

Timeworks Money Manager d £15.00

Sideways (64 and 128) d £35.00

STOCK CONTROL SYSTEMS

Anagram Stock Control (64 or 128) d £35.00

Practicorp Inventory d £12.00

DATABASE FILING SYSTEMS

Cardco

Digital

Fieldmaster

Precision

Timeworks
PSI

Mail Now d £30.00

File Now d £39.00

Pocket filer 64 d £36.00

Record Card d £10.00

Superbase (64) d £40.00

Superbase (128) d £60.00

Superbase Starter d £20.00

Data Manager 2 (128) d £50.00

Fleet Filer 64/128 d £39.00

WORD PROCESSORS

Broderbund
Cardco

Digital

Precision

PSI

Supersoft
Tasman

Xetec

Bank Street Writer d £49.00

Spell Now d £29.00

Write Now r£49.00

Pocket Writer 64 d £36.00

Pocket Writer 128 d £44.00

Pocket Writer 64/1 28 v.2 d £49.00

Superscript (64) d £49.00

Superscript (128) d £60.00

Fleet System 4 (WP, Database) d £75.00

Word Perfect t £10.00

Tasword 64 d £19.00

Tasword 64 t £17.00

Fontmaster II (64 or 128) d £60.00

SPREADSHEETS

Cardco
Digital

Fieldmaster

F.P.

Practicorp

Spinnaker

Calc Now d £30.00

Pocket Planner 64 d £36.00

Pocket Planner 128 d £44.00

Superpack (Filer, Writer, Planner for 64) d £75.00

Worksheet d £10.00

Powerplan d £40.00

Practicalc II d £30.00

PS Spreadsheet d £15.00

Better Spreadsheet d £30.00

AIDS & UTILITIES

Access Mach 5 Fastload r £20.00

Abacus Chartpak 64 d £24.00

Chartpak 128 d £39.00

Cadpak 128 d £49.00

Cobol 64 or 128 d £49.00

SuperC 128 d £49.00

Basic 64 Compiler d £39.00

Basic 128 Compiler d £49.00

Super Pascal 64 d £49.00

Berkeley Geos d £45.00

Fontpack 1 d £24.00

Deskpack d £27.00

Writers Workshop d £38.00

Geodex d £29.00

Broderbund The Printshop d £33.00

Graphics Library (1, 2 or 3) d £18.00

Holiday Graphics d £18.00

The Printshop Companion d £33.00

Cardco S'More (22K extra Ram, Toolkit) r £49.00

CSM 1541 Disk Drive Alignment Program d £44.00

Crystal Zeus Assembler d £14.00

Zeus Assembler t £10.00

Evesham DolphinDos r£69.00

Freeze Frame 1MB r£39.00

F.P. Pascal 64 d £15.00

Hesware Forth r£49.00

Incentive Graphic Adventure Creator t or d £20.00

Oasis Laser Basic d £19.00

Laser Basic t £15.00

Laser Compiler d £25.00

Laser Compiler t £19.00

Laser Genius d £20.00

OCS Oxford Pascal 64 d £34.00

Oxford Pascal 128 d £49.00

Orpheus Cad 64 d £20.00

Practicorp 64 Doctor d £12.00

Precision Supertype d £15.00

Supertype t £15.00

RW Merlin 64 Assembler d £49.00

Merlin 128 Assembler d £69.00

Springboard The Newsroom d £49.00

Clip Art 1 d £25.00

Clip Art 2 d £27.00

Clip Art 3 d £27.00

Skyles Victree r £30.00

Supersoft Zoom monitor d £12.00

MUSIC SYNTHESIZERS

Access
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EA
Firebird

Supersoft

CHESS

CDS
SC

BRIDGE

Artworx

Bridgemaster
GGP

Master Composer d £39.00

Music Shop d £49.00

Music Construction Set d £15.00

Music System d £17.00

Music System t £15.00

Advanced Music System d £39.00

Music Master d £10.00

Colossus 4 d £14.00

Colossus 4 t £10.00

Chessmaster 2000 d £33.00

Compubridge d £29.00

Bridge 4 d £29.00

Bridge tutor t £17.00

Bridge Baron d £35.00

EDUCATIONAL

Dell Essential Italian d/t £14.00

Broderbund The Toyshop (20 working models) d £60.00

INTERFACES

Xetec

Supergraphics Senior r + cable £80.00

Supergraphics Junior r + cable £50.00

WAR, SPORTS AND BUSINESS SIMULATIONS — FLIGHT SIMULATIONS
ADVENTURES (PHANTASY, GRAPHIC, TEXT)— ARCADE GAMES

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Software is not sold in a trial basis

GIANT

I am sure that there must be many
programmers who, like me, have been
drawn to their keyboards to crack a
particular problem, and having done so,
never get around to arranging the
program into a form that may be used by
others, nor, moreover, by themselves
when they come back to it some months
later.

The situation usually arises because
the tedium of titling, and setting out
instructions, soon comes second best to
the next project forming in our minds.

It was whilst pondering the question
of titles that I remembered a program I
had copied from a magazine for my
ZX81. The program interrogated the
computer's character ROM to check
how the pattern of 64 pixels, on an 8 x 8
matrix, which form each screen charac-
ter, is made up. It then produced a
similar pattern made up this time, not of
tiny pixels, but of blocks, reversed
spaces in fact, so as to form characters
with areas 64 times that of the standard.
On the C-64, I figured, its 25 x 40
character screen could produce 3 rows
of 5 giant characters. It offered an easy
way to make titles but there were a few
minor snags to sort out in order to make
it more versatile, and one major one; the
Basic program took about 30 seconds to
produce a screen full of the giant
characters. The obvious answer was to
produce the same effect by a machine-
code routine and the program described
here, called "GIANT", is the result.

Giant is loaded by means of a Basic
loader into the area 50000 to 50411 and
is called the SY5 50000. It may, however,
be moved to wheresoever you wish, by

changing line 10 of the loader
accordingly.
The syntax for GIANT is as follows:

SYS 50000 "A", B, C, D where:—

"A" is a string up to 5 characters long
and represents the giant characters
which are to be printed, GIANT will
automatically centre the characters, but
as spaces are counted, these may be
used to force any offset needed. Spaces
are actually printed and so will effectively
erase any characters already on the
screen. If you do not wish to erase, you
must use the control character for
cursor right, which is represented on the
screen by a reversed, square, closed
bracket, which is called a "skip"
character for the purposes of this
program.

B must be a number from 1 to 3, and is
used to indicate on which of the
possible 3 rows you wish to print.

C specifies the minor character from
which the giant ones are built. If C is not
specified, the default is a reversed
space, which appears as a wholly filled
block. A figure 1 used in position B tells
the computer to make the minor
character the same as that being printed
in giant form; thus if the word GO were
being printed the giant G and O would
be built from little Gs and Os respec-
tively. Placing a valid character code in
position C will make the minor charac-
ters print as per that code.

D is a multi-function parameter which
primarily defines the colour by use of
the standard codes to 15. If un-
specified the default is (black). Adding

the number 32 to the value of D will
cause the giant character to be a lower
case version of that specified by "A".
Adding 64 will cause the minor character
to appear in reverse, whilst adding 128
will do the same for the giant character.

GIANT also contains a short program
to allow the use, from Basic, of the C-
64's in-built PLOT routine. This allows
the placement of the cursor at any print
position on the screen without the need
for rows of "cursor down" characters
and at the same time makes the TAB
command unnecessary.

Call PLOT with:

SYS T + 396,C,R where

T is the start address for "Giant" and
equals 50000 as the program is written
here.

C and R are the column and row,
respectively, that the cursor is to move
to.

Do remember that the columns run
from to 39 and the rows from to 24, as
in order to keep the program as short as
possible, no safety nets are incorporated.
Illegal numbers may cause some strange
effects.

The programme TEST provides some
illustrations of the use of GIANT the
symbol for dark blue.

Besides being used as a titling utility,
GIANT may also be used for other
purposes such as advertising or as an
aid to producing graphics for games, (a
giant asterix looks remarkably like a
space invader)! No doubt readers will
find other uses too.

REM **********************************
REM * *

REM * GIANT BY RICK ASTLEY *
REM * *

REM **********************************

L=50000

FOR X=0 TO 27:T=0:FOR Y=0 TO 14

READ A: IF A <0 OR A >255 THEN 60

POKE L, A:L=L+1:T=T+A:NEXT

READ A:T=T-( INT (T/256 ) *256 )

IF TOA THEN PRINT n DATA ERROR IN L I NE M 1000+ <X*10) "CHECKSUM <> n A:STOP

PRINT1000+(X*10)"OK":NEXT
DATA

i

2

3

4

5

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1000

1010

1020

1030

1040

1050

173,024,208,041,014,010,010, 141, 168,002,201,016,208,005, 169, 110

DATA 208, 141, 168,002,032,212,225, 162,000, 134, 184, 142, 173,002, 134, 127

DATA 199,032, 121,000,240,008,032,241, 183, 134, 184, 142,001, 199, 165, 089

DATA 186,240,004,201,004, 144,003,076,008, 175, 164, 183,240,249, 192, 021

DATA 006, 144,005, 162,023, 108,000,003, 173, 134,002,072, 165, 184, 141, 042

DATA 134,002, 162,001,042, 144,003, 142, 173,002,042, 144,002, 134, 199, 046

134 Commodore Computing June 1987

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(All branded discs are boxed in tens, manufacturers' original packing)
NOTHING MORE TO ADD!!! ALL PRICES INCLUDE VAT AND P&P

GEOS 1.3 Our Price £42.50 Inc. VAT & Carriage (U.K.)

All add-ons for Geos at discount prices, please ask.

Special: Geos compatible printer cable (Allows use of most

Centronics i/f printers) £19.95 Inc. VAT & Carriage (U.K.)

SEE YOU AT THE COMMODORE SHOW STAND 39

WANTED!!

We want to buy your computer, your printer, your disc drive, your modem,
your monitor, your software, your spilling chocker, FOR CASH!!!
WE WILL GIVE EVEN MORE IN PART EXCHANGE . . . Against the latest
micros from AMSTRAD, ATARI, COMMODORE et al.

FOR A QUICK QUOTE (or a slow lingering one) ring:

KEITH McGOVERN on 01-407 8447 Mon-Fri 9am-6pm
or 01-304 2631 Mon-Sat 8pm-10pm

■3 ORDER LINE 01-304 2631 9am to w P m

TCLDTDXT

A world of
information at
your fingertips

The Microtext adaptor turns your C64 or 128 into a sophisticated
Teletext Receiver. Giving you a full colour display of any of the
free pages from Ceefax or Oracle. Teletext is constantly updated
to give you the latest information available. As well as news and
sports results, there's road, rail and air travel information, what's
on TV and weather reports. You can get an update on share prices
or bargain holidays, at the touch of a button. And not only does
Teletext cater for special interests, like computing, motoring, or
gardening, but you'll also find things to do and places to go in
your area, prize competitions and even your daily horoscope,
plus much much more. It's all free, easy to use and it's all at your
fingertips.

With the Microtext Adaptor a page like a recipe or a software
review may be saved to disc or cassette for later reloading, or you
can print a page like the TV programme times on any printer
which uses the serial bus. All the functions like Hold, Back one
page, or Print are simply selected by pressing one key, it's very
easy to use but powerful too!

The manual has examples and shows how to access and use
Teletext from your own programs, the ability to tap the massive
database available on Teletext and select and use information like
football results, exchange rates or weather conditions, provides
possibilities limited only by your imagination.
The Adaptor is cased and fits neatly on the User port, it comes
with software on cassette with instructions for copying to disc. A
lead which could be extended to another room, connects to the
seldom used 'VIDEO OUT' socket on your video recorder so
using your video as the Tuner for the system. This ingenious
concept means an extra aerial is not required, your family can still
use the Main TV as before and channel selection for Teletext is
done on the video which reduces the complexity of the adaptor so
saving you money!

As well as the UK the system works in Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Eire, Finland, West Germany, Holland, New Zealand,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland and also with cable
or satellite TV.

Just £69.95 inc. P&P (Overseas add £2.00) only from:

MICROTEXT

Dept CI, 7 Birdlip Close, Horndean, Hants. P08 9PW
Telephone: 0705 595694

SPECTRUM — AMSTRAD

COMMODORE

NOBLES COMPUTER
REPAIRS

* Repairs carried out by our own engineers on site.

* All repairs carry a 4 MONTH GUARANTEE
For estimates phone or send your computer to Derek at
NOBLES.

I Commodore 64. E18.95 inc parts

post and pack

I TV repairs from £22.50 plus parts

Also repair specialists for Amstrad, Commodore 64/Vic 20,
BBC and MSX computers

m NO HIDDEN CHARGES

1 • SPECIAL OFFER *

2 FREE GAMES WORTH £1 2

with each commodore repair Trade/School and Club dis-
counts arranged,
r For free, no obligation estimates phone or send your computer g
to NOBLES for the fastest, cheapest repairs in ESSEX and

Nationwide!

FULL RANGE OF SPECTRUM GAMES eg Z games £1 .99

PLEASE PHONE FOR ORDER DETAILS

NOBLES

14-17 Eastern Esplanade

Soutncnd-on-Sea

Essex

070263377/8 63336/7/8/9

7 days a week, 24-hour Answering Service

SPECTRUM — AMSTRAD — COMMODORE

Main repairers lor
Amstrad In the UK

"LOAD-IT" "LOAD-IT"

ATTENTION DATA-RECORDER OWNERS

THE DISEASE - Tape Loading Problems

THE CURE - Our Exclusive Data-recorder Modification Package

PERMANENT HEAD ALIGNMENT ADJUSTING KNOB
CALIBRATED SCALE
INTERNAL SPEAKER FITTED

CBM RECORDER

* Programs fail to load if the head does not read the tape correctely.

* By simply adjusting the headslightly all programs will load!

* Loading problems are caused by variations in alignment of data on tape.

'LOAD-IT" GIVES YOU:

* Audible loading through internally fitted speaker.

* Head alignment easily adjusted to clearest data signal.
+ Calibrated scale for keeping a record of loading

positions.

* Achieves 100% success even on poorly recorded
programs.

* Guaranteed for life of data-recorder.

* Approved by data-recorder manufacturers.

* Recommended by leading software houses.

* Does not affect any guarantees on computer.

* 3-day service from receipt of order.

* Due to popular demand a D.I.Y. kit is available.

* All you need is a soldering iron (required for CBM only).

* A small file and common sense.

* Easy to follow instructions are supplied.

* CBM data-recorder kit, only £9.95 inc. post and package. *

* SPECTRUM 48K/128+2 D.I.Y. kit, only £7.75 inc. post?-' nc
and package (no speaker required).

"LOAD-IT" is a registered trade name. Copyright ©1986. Patent Pending
8629660. Trade enquiries welcome. Franchise scheme available in selected
areas. Britain and overseas.

SEND YOUR DATA-RECORDER SECURELY PACKED TO: Tel: 021 -745 4970.
"LOAD-IT", 35 Stretton Road. Shirley, Solihull. West Midlands 890 2RX.

□ I enclose my CBM data-recorder and cheque for £ 19.95 inc.
D D.I.Y. kit, CBM £9.95. □ D.I.Y. kit for any data-recorder £7.75.
v 7 Tick as appropriate-
Name

Address

Postal code

m/CBM M/CBM 64C/CBM 128/SPECTRUM 48K/128+2.

My Compute; is: CBM 16/CBM

1060
1070
1080
1090
1100
1110
1120
1130
1140
1150
1160
1170
1180
1190
1200
1210
1220
1230
1240
1250
1260
1270

DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA

165,
141,
002,
000,
187,
042,
064,
144,
145,
208,
006,
035,
008,
199,
010,
002,
251,
004,
176,
008,
240,
168,

185,
176,
169,
132,
141,
144,
041,
017,
187,
002,
253,
056,
141,
104,
201,
174,
120,
133,
002,
240,
255,
024,

141,
002,
248,
252,
167,
006,
127,
177,
208,
208,
038,
173,
174,
141,
128,
175,
165,
001,
032,
134,
164,
032,

176,
169,
166,
165,
002,
177,
208,
187,
051,
165,
254,
175,
002,
134,
144,
002,
001,
088,
210,
238,
251,
240,

002,
020,
186,
184,
201,
187,
029,
041,
133,
165,
165,
002,
230,
002,
006,
024,
041,
176,
255,
175,
208,
255,

208,
166,
024,
041,
255,
041,
042,
223,
253,
253,
253,
233,
252,
096,
173,
032,
251,
008,
165,
002,
185,
096,

011,
183,
105,
032,
208,
127,
144,
208,
174,
024,
024,
007,
164,
165,
167,
240,
133,
169,
251,
132,
032,
000,

169,
056,
008,
074,
004,
208,
015,
011,
173,
006,
165,
141,
252,
185,
002,
255,
001,
000,
133,
251,
241,
000,

001,
233,
202,
074,
169,
040,
042,
042,
002,
253,
254,
175,
196,
201,
141,
160,
177,
133,
199,
172,
183,
000,

133,
004,
208,
074,
094,
042,
176,
177,
240,
038,
109,
002,
183,
032,
176,
000,
253,
199,
104,
174,
138,
000,

199,
202,
250,
074,
208,
144,
006,
187,
002,
254,
168,
024,
208,
144,
002,
162,
042,
169,
202,
002,
072,
000,

169,
208,
141,
0-74,
052,
031,
177,
176,
009,
006,
002,
173,
201,
008,
132,
008,
072,
032,
208,
174,
032,
000,

032,
250,
175,
133,
042,
177,
187,
006,
128,
253,
133,
174,
160,
201,
252,
165,
165,
208,
223,
175,
241,
000,

133,
141,
002,
254,
144,
187,
041,
169,
133,
038,
254,
002,
000,
160,
172,
199,
001,
003,
200,
002,
183,
000,

185
174
160
177
020
009
191
029
253
254
208
105
132
176
174
133
009
173
192
032
104
000

117
077
254
204
102
026
210
002
043
079
238
197
255
156
088
195
146
216
248
119
225
047

1 REM *********************************

2 REM * *

3 REM * GIANT DEMO BY RICK ASTLEY *

4 REM * *

5 REM *********************************

10 PRINT n C":POKE 53280, 12 : POKE 53281 , 12 :T=50000 : C=T+396

20 SYS T"I"

30 A*=CHR*<115)+" n :SYS 50000 A$,2,l,2

40 SYS T"H1|MY", 2, 183,35

50 SYS T"CCI ",3,96, 198

60 SYS C,8,15:PRINT "jg, _ — — "

70 SYS C,8,24:PRINT "jg EACH MONTH ";

80 GOTO80

V

r&>mmodo7e ^Subscription Order Forrnl

To Subscriptions Manager, Commodore Computing International,
40 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1 R ONE. Tel: 01 -278 0333 Telex: 267247 FINSEC

Please send me 1 2 issues of Commodore Computing International
D Cheque enclosed D Please debit my Access

CardN °-ni"TTT

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□ Subscription rate U.K. £15.00

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CROFTWARD LIMITED

PostCode

136 Commodore Computing June 1987

FXED

FXED

FXED

John Stevenson

"FXED" is a sound effects editor for the
CBM 64. FXED allows you to edit two
hundred and fifty six different sound
effects. Then when you have created the
effects you want you can save out the
data for them complete with IRQ and
driver routines. The file saved out can
then be loaded independent of the main
program and utilised in basic programs,
eg. games etc.

To use FXED first create the effects
desired, then hitting the F7 key, FXED

will save them to either tape or disk.
When it is finished saving, reset the
computer and load the effects saved.

It is then ready for use in basic
programs. The first line of the program
must have "SYS 50651", this initialises
the IRQ. Then to play an effect just type:

POKE 50156,effects number : SYS 50933.

You can play a maximum of three
effects at any one time.

Instructions for the editor are on
screen.

John Stevenson wrote this program
for the effects in his current project. And
when it was finished he came up with
the idea to turn into a basic utility. You
may have seen his last two projects,
"PUB GAMES" & "ARK PANDORA".
Both got very good reviews in CCI.

1
2

3

4

5

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

REM ****************************

REM *

REM * FXED BY JOHN STEVENSON

REM *

REM ****************************

******
*
*
*

******

POKE 679,169:P0KE 680,54
POKE 681,133:P0KE 682,1
POKE 683,76 :P0KE 684,0
POKE 685,188:P0KE 650,128
L=48128

FOR X = TO 197:T=0:FOR Y=0 TO 1
READ A: IF A <0 OR A >255 THEN 1
POKE L, A:L=L+1 :T=T+A:NEXT
READ A:T = T-( I NT (T/256 ) *256 )
IF TOA THEN PRINT"DATA ERROR

4
00

IN LINE"1000+ (X*10) "CHECKSUM <>"A:ST0P

110 PR I NT 1000+ (X*10) "OK" :NEXT
120 SYS 679

1000 DATA 169, 000/141, 032, 208, 141,
1010 DATA 005,141,134,002,032,010,
1020 DATA 255,032,228,255,201,081,
1030 DATA 065,208,006,032,236,192,
1040 DATA 191,076,022,188,201,083,
1050 DATA 069,208,006,032,122,191,
1060 DATA 193,076,022,188,201,082,
1070 DATA 070,208,006,032,136,193,

033,
189,
208,
076,
208,
076,
208,
076,

208,
032,
006,
022,
006,
022,
006,
022,

032,
168,
032,
188,
032,
188,
032,
188,

168,
190,
018,
201,
032,
201,
174,
201,

194,
032,

191',
087,
193,
068,
191,
084,

032,
110,
076,
208,
076,
208,
076,
208,

243,
196,
022,
006,
022,
.006,
022,
006,

194,
032,
188,
032,
188,
032,
188,
032,

169, 172

159, 152

201, 202

070, 093

201, 183

084, 233

201, 068

226, 152

1080 DATA 191,076,022,188,201,071,208,006,032,188,193,076,022,188,201, 071

1090 DATA 089', 208, 006,032,022, 192,076, 022, 188, 201,072, 208,006, 032, 240, 058

1100 DATA 193,076,022,188,201,085,208,006,032,074,192,076,022,188,201, 228

1110 DATA 074,208,006,032,036,194,076,022,188,201,073,208,006,032,126, 202

Commodore Computing June 1987 137

1120

DATA

192

,076

,022

, 188

, 201

,075

,208

, 006

,032

, 088

, 194

,076

,022

, 188

,-201,

233

1130

DATA

032

, 208

,006

,032

, 229

, 192

,076

,022

, 188

,201

, 133

,208

, 006

, 032

,.492,

221

1140

DATA

196

,076

,022

, 188

,201

, 134

, 208

,006

,032

, 149

, 196

,076

,022

, 188

, 2'0 1 ,

103

1150

DATA

135

,208

,015

,032

,014

, 197

, 032

, 251

, 196

,032

,117

, 195

,032

,110

, 196,

226

1160

DATA

076

, 000

, 188

,201

, 136

, 208

,009

, 032

, 235

,196

, 032

, 021

, 19/

,076

, 000,

071

1170

DATA

188

, 201

,088

, 208

,003

, 032

, 168

, 197

,076

, 022

, 188

, 162

, 000

, 189

, 139,

069

1180

DATA

189

,240

, 007

,032

210

,255

,232

,076

,012

, 189

, 162

, 000

, 189

, 129

, 190,

064

1190

DATA

240

, 007

,032

,210

, 255

, 232

,076

,026

, 189

,162

, 024

, 160

, 000

, 024

,032;

133

1200

DATA

240

, 255

162

000

189

,103

,189

,240

,007

,032

,210

, 255

,232

,076

, 0,48 ,

190

1210

DATA

189

, 162

, 022

, 160

,010

, 024

,032

, 240

,255

, 162

, 000

, 189

,083

, 189

, 240,

165

1220

DATA

007

,032

210

255

232

076

070

, 189

,096

158

,032

,040

, 088

,041

,'032,

022

1230

DATA

068

, 069

,086

,073

067

,069

, 032

,078

,079

,032

,032

, 005

,056

, 000

, 005,

239

1240

DATA

032

, 032

032

032

032

032

032

040

,070

053

,041

,032

,076

,079

,065,

168

1250

DATA

068

,032

070

088

032

,032

,040

, 070

,055

041

,032

, 083

, 065

,086

,069,

095

1260

DATA

032

,070

088

000,

096

147

032

032

032

032

032

,032

,032

,040

,081,

010

1270

DATA

044

, 065

041

032

078

079

084

069

,032

072

,073

,032

, 032

,032

,013,

010

1280

DATA

013

032

032

032,

032

032

032

032

040

087

044

083

, 041

,032

, 078,

130

1290

DATA

079

084

069

032

076

079

032

032

,032

013

013

032

, 032

,032

, 032,

157

1300

DATA

032

032

032

040,

069

044

068

041

032

087

065

086

069

, 070

,079,

078

1310

DATA

082

077

032

032,

013

013

032

032

032

032

032

032

032

, 040

,082,

083

1320

DATA

044

070,

041,

032,

080,

085

076

083

069,

032

072

073

032

, 032

.013,

066

1330

DATA

013

032

032

032,

032

032

032

032

040

084

044

071

041

,032

, 080,

117

1340

DATA

085

076,

083

069,

032

076,

079,

032

032,

013

013,

032

032

032

032,

206

1350

DATA

032

032,

032

040

089

044

072,

041

032

065

084,

084

065

067

075,

086

1360

DATA

047

068,

069

067,

065,

089,

032,

032,

013,

013

032,

032

032

032,

032,

143

1370

DATA

032

032,

040

085

044

074,

041,

032

083

085

083,

084,

065

073,

078,

163

1380

DATA

032,

082,

069,

076,

069,

065,

083,

069,

032,

013,

013,

032,

032,

032,

032,

219

1390

DATA

032

032,

032

040,

073

044,

075,

041

032,

070,

088,

032,

068,

069,

076,

036

1400

DATA

065,

089,

013,

013,

158,

013,

013,

032,

032,

032,

032,

032,

032,

032,

080,

156

1410

DATA

082

069,

083

083,

032,

083,

080,

065,

067,

069,

032,

084,

079,

032,

080,

252

1A20

DATA

076,

065,

089,

032,

069,

070,

070,

069,

067,

084,

000,

159,

013,

013,

032,

140

1430

DATA

032,

032,

032

032,

032,

032,

040,

070,

049,

044,

070,

051,

041,

032,

070,

147

1440

DATA

088,

032,

078,

085,

077,

066,

069,

082,

032,

032,

068,

079,

087,

078,

047,

232

1450

DATA

085,

080,

013,

001,

000,

162,

000,

189,

183,

190,

240,

007,

032,

210,

255,

111

1460

DATA

232,

076,

170,

190,

096,

019,

005,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

252

1470

DATA

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

179

1480

DATA

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

029,

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

017,

048,

103

1490

DATA

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

017,

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

017,

226

1500

DATA

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

017,

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

001

1510

DATA

017,

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

017,

017,

048,

048,

048,

157,

157,

157,

001

1520

DATA

017,

017,

048,

048,

048,

000,

173,

218,

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

214,

190,

104

1530

DATA

141,

226,

192,

173,

215,

190,

141,

227,

192,

173,

216,

190,

141,

228,

192,

021

1540

DATA

032,

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

218,

192,

173,

226:,

192,

141,

214,

190,

119

1550

DATA

173,

227,

192,

141,

215,

190,

173,

228,

192,

141,

216,

190,

096,

173,

217,

204

1560

DATA

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

222,

190,

141,

226,

192,

173,

223,

190,

'141,

227,

032

1570

DATA

192,

173,

224,

190,

141,

228,

192,

032,

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

217,

130

1580

DATA

192,

173,

226,

192,

141,

222,

190,

173,

227,

192,

141,

223,

190,

173,

228,

067

1590

DATA

192,

141,

224,

190,

096,

173,

221,

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

230,

190,

141,

161

1600

DATA

226,

192,

173,

231,

190,

141,

227,

192,

173,

232,

190,

141,

228,

192,

032,

200

1610

DATA

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

221,

192,

173,

226,

192,

141,

230,

190,

173,

023

1620

DATA

227,

192,

141,

231,

190,

173,

228,

192,

141,

232,

190,

096,

173,

220,

192,

002

1630

DATA

141,

225,

192,

173,

238,

190,

141,

226,

192,

173,

239,

190,

141,

227,

192,

064

1640

DATA

173,

240,

190,

141,

228,

192,

032,

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

220,

192,

149

1650

DATA

173,

226,

192,

141,

238,

190,

173,

227,

192,

141,

239,

190,

173,

228^

192,

099

1660

DATA

141,

240,

190,

096,

173,

219,

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

246,

190,

141,

226,

225

1670

DATA

192,

173,

247,

190,

141,

227,

192,

173,

248,

190,

141,

228,

192,

032,"

178,

184

1680

DATA

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

219,

192,

173,

226,

192,

141,

246,

190,

173,

227,

086

1690

DATA

192,

141,

247,

190,

173,

228,

192,

141,

248,

190,

096,

173,

222,

192,

IS, '

14l,

206

1700

DATA

225,

192,

173,

254,

190,

141,

226,

192,

173,

255,

190,

141,

227,

192,

173,

128

1710

DATA

000,

191,

141,

228,

192,

032,

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

222,

192,

173,

168

1720

DATA

226,

192,

141,

254,

190,

173,

227,

192,

141,

255,

190,

173,

228,

192,

141,

099

1730

DATA

000,

191 ,

096,

173,

223,

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

006,

191,

141,

226,

192,

058

138 Commodore Computing June 1987

/

Pre

DATA

—

173,

%

/

—J

1740

007,

191,

141,

227,

192,

173,

008,

191, 141,

228, 192,

032, 178,

192,

218

1750

DATA

173,

225,

192,

141,

223,

192,

173,

226,

192,

141,

006,

191,

173,

227,

192,

107

1760

DATA

141,

007,

191,

173,

228,

192,

141,

008,

191,

096,

173,

224,

192,

141,

225,

019

1770

DATA

192,

173,

014,

191,

141,

226,

192,

173,

015,

191,

141,

227,

192,

173,

016,

209

1780

DATA

191,

141,

228,

192,

032,

178,

192,

173,

225,

192,

141,

224,

192,

173,

226,

140

1790

DATA

192,

141 ,

014,

191,

173,

227,

192,

141,

015,

191,

173,

228,

192,

141,

016,

179

1800

DATA

191,

096,

238,

225,

192,

173,

225,

192,

208,

012,

169,

048,

141,

226,

192,

224

1810

DATA

141,

227,

192,

141,

228,

192

096,

032,

055,

195,

096,

096,

160,

000,

200

003

1820

DATA

192,

140,

208,

251,

096,

232,

224,

002,

208,

243,

096,

000,

000,

000,

000

' 100

1830

DATA

000,

000,

000

000

000

048

048

048,

173,

224,

192,

141,

001,

195,

096

142

1840

DATA

173,

218,

192,

141,

225,

192,

173,

214,

190,

141,

226

192,

173,

215,

190

039

1850

DATA

141

227,

192

173

216

190

141

228

192

032

140,

194

173,

225,

192

096

1860

DATA

141

, 218

, 192

173

226

192

141

214

190

173

,227.

192,

141

215

190

009

1870

DATA

173

. 228

, 192

, 141

216

190

096

, 173

,217

, 192

,141,

225

192

173

211

1880

DATA

190

, 141

, 226

192

173

223

190

141

227

192

173,

224

190

141

228

035

1890

DATA

192

,032

, 140

, 194

173

225

192

, 141

,217

, 192

173

226

192

141

222

092

1900

DATA

190

, 173

,227

, 192

141

223

190

173

228

192

141

224

190

096

173

193

1910

DATA

221

, 192

, 141

,225

192

173

230

, 190

141

,226

, 192

173

231

190

141

042

1920

DATA

227

, 192

, 173

232

190

141

228

192

032

, 140

194

173

225

192

141

112

1930

DATA

221

, 192

, 173

, 226

, 192

141

230

, 190

173

, 227

, 192

141

231

190

173

076

1940

DATA

228

, 192

, 141

,232

190

096

173

220

192

141

,225

192

173

238

190

007

1950

DATA

141

,226

, 192

, 173

,239

190

, 141

, 227

, 192

, 173

, 240

, 190

, 141

, 228

, 192

, 069

1960

DATA

032

, 140

, 194

173

225

192

141

,220

192

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

,238

, 190

, 109

1970

DATA

173

,227

, 192

, 141

,239

190

, 173

, 228

, 192

, 141

, 240

, 190

,096

, 173

, 219

, 254

1980

DATA

192

, 141

, 225

192

173

246

, 190

, 141

226

, 192

, 173

, 247

, 190

, 141

, 227

, 080

1990

DATA

192

. 173

,248

, 190

, 141

228

, 192

, 032

, 140

, 19A

, 173

, 225

, 192

, 141

, 219

, 120

2000

DATA

192

, 173

,226

, 192

141

246

, 190

, 173

227

, 192

, 141

,247

, 190

, 173

, 228

, 115

2010

DATA

192

, 141

, 248

, 190

,096

173

, 222

, 192

, 141

,225

, 192

, 173

, 254

, 190

, 141

, 210

2020

DATA

226

, 192

, 173

, 255

190

141

,227

, 192

, 173

, 000

, 191

, 141

, 228

, 192

,032

, 249

2030

DATA

140

, 194

, 173

, 225

, 192

,141

, 222

, 192

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

, 254

, 190

, 173

, 012

2040

DATA

227

, 192

, 141

, 255

, 190

173

,228

, 192

, 141

, 000

, 191

,096

, 173

, 223

, 192

, 054

2050

DATA

141

,225

, 192

, 173

, 006

191

, 141

,226

, 192

, 173

, 007

, 191

, 141

, 227

, 192

, 114

2060

DATA

173

,008

, 191

, 141

, 228

192

,032

, 140

, 194

, 173

,225

, 192

, 141

, 223

, 192

, 141

2070

DATA

173

, 226

, 192

, 141

,006

, 191

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

, 007

, 191

, 173

,228

, 192

, 149

2080

DATA

141

,008

, 191

,096

, 173

224

, 192

, 141

,225

, 192

, 173

,014

, 191

, 141

, 226

, 024

2090

DATA

192

, 173

,015

, 191

, 141

, 227

, 192

, 173

,016

, 191

, 141

, 228

, 192

, 032

, 140

. 196

2100

DATA

194

, 173

,225

, 192

, 141

, 224

, 192

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

,014

, 191

, 173

, 227

, 118

2110

DATA

192

, 141

,015

, 191

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

,016

, 191

, 096

, 206

, 225

, 192

, 173

, 068

2120

DATA

225

, 192

, 201

, 255

, 208

, 014

, 169

,050

, 141

,226

, 192

, 169

, 053

, 141

, 227

, 159

2130

DATA

192

, 141

,228

, 192

, 096

,032

,055

, 195

, 096

, 120

, 169

,001

, 141

,026

,208

, 100

2140

DATA

173

,017

,208

,041

, 127

, 141

,017

,208

, 169

, 000.

, 141

,013

, 220

, 141

,014

, 094

2150

DATA

220

, 169

,202

, 141

,020

, 003

, 169

, 194

, 141

,021

, 003

, 088

,096

, 169

,001

, 101

2160

DATA

141

,025

,208

, 173

,215

, 194

,240

,004

,076

,229

, 194

, 000

, 169

, 001

, 141

, 218

2170

DATA

215

, 194

, 169

, 192

, 141

,018

,208

,076

,049

,234

, 169

, 000

, 141

, 215

, 194

, 167

2180

DATA

141

, 018

,208

, 032

, 002

, 195

,076

, 188

,254

, 162

, 000

, 169

, 000

, 157

, 000

, 066

2190

DATA

212

,232

,224

,025

,208

,248

,096

, 000

, 000

, 173

, 001

, 195

,208

,012

, 169

, 211

2200

DATA

000

, 141

,004

,212

, 141

, 000

, 195

, 141

,032

,208

,096

, 173

, 000

, 195

,240

, 242

2210

DATA

009

,206

,001

, 195

, 169

,011

, 141

,032

,208

, 096

, 169

,015

, 141

, 024

,212

, 093

2220

DATA

141

, 000

, 195

, 162

, 000

, 189

,217

, 192

, 157

, 000

, 212

, 232

,224

,007

,208

, 088

2230

DATA

245

,096

, 174

,225

, 192

, 169

,048

, 141

, 226

, 192

, 141

, 227

, 192

, 141

,228

, 077

2240

DATA

192

,224

, 000

, 240

,007

,032

, 081

, 195

, 202

, 076

, 069

, 195

,096

,238

,228

, 027

2250

DATA

192

, 173

,228

, 192

,201

,058

,240

,001

,096

, 169

,048

, 141

, 228

, 192

,238

, 093

2260

DATA

227

, 192

, 173

,227

, 192

,201

,058

,240

, 001

,096

, 169

,048

, 141

,227

, 192

, 080

2270

DATA

238

, 226

, 192

,096

, 173

,218

, 192

, 141

,225

, 192

, 032

, 055

, 195

, 173

,226

, 014

2280

DATA

192

, 141

,214

, 190

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

,215

, 190

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

,216

, 009

2290

DATA

190

, 173

, 217

, 192

, 141

, 225

, 192

,032

, 055

, 195

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

, 222

, 006

2300

DATA

190

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

, 223

, 190

, 173

, 228

, 192

, 141

, 224

, 190

, 173

,219

, 060

2310

DATA

192

, 141

,225

, 192

, 032

, 055

, 195

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

,246

, 190

, 173

,227

, 040

2320

DATA

192

, 141

, 247

, 190

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

, 248

, 190

, 173

,220

, 192

, 141

,225

, 077

2330

DATA

192

,032

,055

, 195

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

,238

, 190

, 173

, 227

, 192

, 141

,239

, 046

2340

DATA

190

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

,240

, 190

, 173

,221

, 192

, 141

,225

, 192

,032

,055

, 025

2350

DATA

195

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

, 230

, 190

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

,231

, 190

, 173

,228

, 086

Commodore Computing June 1987 139

2360

DATA

2370

DATA

2380

DATA

2390

DATA

2400

DATA

2410

DATA

2420

DATA

2430

DATA

2440

DATA

2450

DATA

2460

DATA

2470

DATA

2480

DATA

2490

DATA

2500

DATA

2510

DATA

2520

DATA

2530

DATA

2540

DATA

2550

DATA

2560

DATA

2570

DATA

2580

DATA

2590

DATA

2600

DATA

2610

DATA

2620

DATA

2630

DATA

2640

DATA

2650

DATA

2660

DATA

2670

DATA

2680

DATA

2690

DATA

2700

DATA

2710

DATA

2720

DATA

2730

DATA

2740

DATA

2750

DATA

2760

DATA

2770

DATA

2780

DATA

2790

DATA

2800

DATA

2810

DATA

2820

DATA

2830

DATA

2840

DATA

2850

DATA

2860

DATA

2870

DATA

2880

DATA

2890
2900
2910
2920
2930
2940
2950
2960
2970

DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA
DATA

192

» 141

,232

, 190

, 173

, 222

, 192

, 141

, 225

, 192

,032

, 055

, 195

, 173

,226,

192

, 141

,254

, 190

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

,255

, 190

, 173

, 228

, 192

. 141

000,

191

, 173

,223

, 192

, 141

,225

, 192

. 032

,055

, 195

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

,006,

191

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141

,007

, 191

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

, 008

, 191

, 173

,224,

192

, 141

,225

, 192

,032

,055

, 195

, 173

, 226

, 192

, 141

,014

, 191

, 173

,227,

192

, 141

,015

, 191

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

,016

, 191

,032

, 168

, 190

,096

,096,

173

, 144

, 199

, 141

,225

, 192

,032

,055

, 195

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

, 145

, 196,

173

,227

, 192

, 141

, 146

, 196

, 173

, 228

, 192

, 141

, 147

, 196

,096

, 162

,016,

160

,014

,024

,032

,240

,255

, 162

, 000

, 189

, 133

, 196

,240

,007

,032

,210,

255

,232

,076

, 120

, 196

,096

,030

,070

, 088

,032

, 078

,085

,077

,066

, 069,

082

, 032

, 005

,048

,048

, 048

, 000

, 032

,235

, 196

,238

, 144

, 199

, 173

, 144,

199

, 141

,225

, 192

,032

, 055

, 195

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

, 145

, 196

, 173

, 227,

192

, 141

, 146

, 196

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

, 147

, 196

,032

, 110

, 196

,032

,251,

196

,032

, 117

, 195

,096

,032

,235

, 196

, 206

, 144

, 199

. 173

, 144

, 199

, 141,

225

, 192

,032

,055

, 195

, 173

,226

, 192

, 141

, 145

, 196

, 173

,227

, 192

, 141,

146

, 196

, 173

,228

, 192

, 141

, 147

, 196

,032

, 110

, 196

,032

,251

, 196

,032,

117

, 195

,096

,032

, 113

, 199

, 160

, 000

, 185

.217

, 192

, 145

, 254

, 200

, 192,

008

, 208

, 246

, 096

,032

, 113

, 199

, 160

, 000

, 177

,254

, 153

i 217

, 192

,200,

192

, 008

,208

,246

,032

, 168

, 190

,096

,032

,028

, 197

,032

, 106

, 197

, 096,

032

,028

, 197

,032

, 131

, 197

,096

, 162

, 000

, 169

,032

, 157

,079

, 197

,232,

224

,016

,208

,248

, 169

, 000

, 141

,096

, 197

, 162

, 000

, 189

,097

, 197

,240,

007

032

,210

, 255

,232

,076

,047

, 197

160

000

032

,207

,255

201

013,

240

007

153

079

197

200

076

061

197

140

,096

197

096

074

074,

074

074

074

,074

,074

074

,074

074

074

074

074

074

,074

074

000,

000

147

005

078

065

077

069

032

032

000

, 174

203

, 197

138

160,

255

032

186

,255

173

096

, 197

162

079

160

197

032

189

255

169,

000

032

213

255

096

174

203

197

138

160

255

032

186

255

173,

096

197

162

079

160

, 197

032

189

255

169

,219

133

254

169

197,

133

255

169

254

162

137

160

207

032

216

255

096

173

203

197,

201

001

240

,014

169

,001

141

203

197

169

049

141

101

189

032,

204

197

096

169

008

141

203

197

169

056

141

101

, 189

032

204,

197

096

008

, 162

022

160

026

024

032

240"

255

173

101

189

032,

210

255

096

120

169

001

141

026

208

173

,017

208

041

127

141,

017

208

169

000

141

013

220

141

014

220

169

254

141

020

003,

169

197

141

021

003

088

096

000

169

001

, 141

025

208

173

253,

197

240

003

,076

024

198

169

192

141

018

208

169

001

141

253,

197

076

049

234

169

000

141

018

208

141

253

197

032

043

198,

169

015

141

024

212

076

188

254

173

239

198

240

051

173

242,

198

208

027

162

000

189

215

198

157

000

212

232

224

007

208,

245

189

215

198

141

212

198

169

001

141

242

198

076

099

198,

206

212

198

173

212

198

208

011

169

000

141

239

198

141

242,

198

141

004

212

173

240

198

240

051

173

243

198

208

027

162,

000

189

223

198

157

007

212

232

224

007

208

245

189

223

198,

141

213

198

169

001

141

243

198

076

155

198

206

213

198

173,

213

198

208

011

169

000

141

240

198

141

243

198

141

011

212,

173

241

198

240

051

173

244

198

208

027

162

000

189

231

198,

157

014

212

232

224

007

208

245

189

231

198

141

214

198

169,

001

141

244

198

076

211

198

206

214

198

173

214

198

208

011,

169

000

141

241

198

141

244

198,

141

018

212

096

000

000

000,

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000,

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000

000,

173

239

198

208

004

032

016

199

096

173

240

198

208

004

032,

048

199

096

173

241

198

208

003,

032

080

199

096

173

112

199,

141,

144,

199,

032,

113,

199,

160,

000,

177,

254,

153,

215,

198,

200,

192,

008,

208,

246,

169,

001,

141,

239,

198,

169,

000,

141,

242,

198,

096,

173,

112,

199,

141,

144,

199,

032,

113,

199,

160,

000,

177,

254,

153,

223,

198,

200,

192,

008,

208,

246,

169,

001,

141,

240,

198,

169,

000,

141,

243,

198,

096,

173,

112,

199,

141,

144,

199,

032,

113,

199,

160,

000,

177,

254,

153,

231,

198,

200,

192,

008,

208,

246,

169,

001,

141,

241,

198,

169,

000,

141,

244,

198,

096,

000,

174,

144,

199,

169,

199,

133,

255,

169,

145,

133,

254,

224,

000,

240,

015,

165,

254,

024,

105,

008,

133,

254,

144,

002,

230,

255,

202,

076,

124,

199,

096,

000,

255,

000,

000,

000,

000,

000,

000,

000,

000,

021
129
053
148
065
014
125
122
102
034
088
208
069
001
201
220
249
207
036
205
136
132
095
012
097
133
065
204
089
056
059
181
141
194
149
238
164
091
189
218
244
164
208
219
020
229
079
187
007
000
000
228
009

073
181
000
050
104
039
208
005
184

140 Commodore Computing June 1987

ffiwia^ L

C64 Keyboard Matrix and
the I.R.Q. System

by K. Munn

This is a simple routine
explaining the idea behind
using I.R.Q.'s.

In the past, you may have seen
assembly language listings which
contain sections like the one below and
wondered where the comparison values
came from and how they work within a
program.

100LDA$C5

110 CMP $04

120BEQXXXX

It's not commonly known that, when a
keypress is made, an individual matrix
value is placed into location 197 ($C5
hex). These values do not correspond to
either the Commodore ASCII codes or
to the screen Character codes. Neither
are they to be found in the otherwise
excellent Commodore 64 Programmer's
Reference Guide. Listed below is a table
of keyboard matrix values.

Note that these values are assigned to
individual keys and not to characters.
Therefore, it is immaterial whether the
SHIFT/CBM/CTRL keys are held down
or not, the values remain the same.

Incidentally, the keypress values of
the SHIFT/CBM/CTRL keys are held in
another memory location ie. 653 ($028D
hex) and when PEEKed return values of
1, 2 and 4 respectively. When one or
more of these keys are held down, their
values become accumulative and are
stored in the same location, indicated by
a number ranging from to 7. Thus, if
the three keys were held down the value
7 would appear in location 653. If SHIFT

and CTRL were held down at the same
time PEEKing location 653 would return
•the value 5 etc.

Armed with this information, we can
now unravel the assembly language
program above.

100 LDA $C5 ! Load the accumulator
with the keyscan value currently held in
location 197

1 1 CMP #$04 1 Compare that value with
the value of 4, ie. the matrix value of the
F1 key.

120 BEQ XXXX ! Branch to the routine
programmed for use with F1. If the value
is O 4 then carry on to the next line
number.

Using this information in conjuction
with the IRQ interrupt system, we can
make the CBM 64 do many jobs to help
make programming easier.

Briefly, the IRQ interrupt system
checks that the computer is performing
all the housekeeping jobs which keeps it
working normally, keyscans, updating
the screen etc. These interrupts take
place approximately 60 times a second.

The IRQ interrupt vectors are at
locations 788 and 789 ($0314 and $0315
hex) in lo/hi-byte form and normally
points to the interrupt servicing routine
in ROM at location $EA31. We can,
however, POKE these locations and
make the vector point to our own
machine code programe prior to con-
ducting its own normal functions. The
program whic accompanies this article
demonstrates one of the many uses to
which we can put our new-found
knowledge. The first program is a
BASIC loader. Once typed in, SAVE it
before attempting to execute the code

as it will initialise and NEW itself on
RUNning. The second program is for
those of you with an assembler. It is fully
annotated with remarks on the pro-
gram's execution and will help you
follow the program flow.

The program is placed in memory
within the 4K block beginning at
location 49152 and is initalised by SYS
49152. The prog ram is simplicity itself to
use and the functions are as follows:—

F1 indefinitely pauses a BASIC
program whilst depressed and is useful
in following program execution or listing
line numbers etc.

F3 advances the border colour.

F5 advances the screen colour.

F7 advances the screen character
colour.

This short program illustrates the
value of the keyboard matrix system
when used in conjunction with IRQ
interrupts. It's interesting to note that,
although only 4 keys are used, it's
perfectly possible to utilise the function
keys to perform 16 different jobs if used
in conjunction with the SHIFT/CBM/
CTRL keys. All that's required is to
insert comparisons whilst PEEKing
location 653, and then branching to the
required routine.

Enjoy yourself with the keyboard
matrix and IRQ interrupts. Experiment
with them and use the information
contained in this article to make your
own programming easier.

It's even possible to have a one-key
keyword entry system similar to the
Sinclair Spectrum. But then, that's
another story...

57

1 —56

2 — 59

3-8

4 — 11

5 — 16

6—19

7 — 24

8 — 27

9 — 32

— 35

A — 10

B — 28

C — 20

D — 18

E — 14

F — 21

G — 26

H — 29

I— 33

J — 34

K — 37

L — 42

M — 36

N — 39

— 38

P — 41

Q — 62

R — 17

S — 13

T — 22

U — 30

V — 31

W — 9

X — 23

Y — 25

Z— 12

+ —40

- — 43

£ — 48

— 46

* — 49

t — 54

: — 45

; — 50

= — 53

— 47

,—44

/ — 55

F1 — 4

F3 — 5

F5 — 6

F7 — 3

SPACE —

60

RETURN — 1

INST/DEL-

CLR/HOME-

-51

UP/DOWN CURSOR — 7LEFT/RIGHT CURSOR — 2

Commodore Computing June 1987 141

120

130
140
150

160

1 ?<d
180
190
200
210

220
230
240
250
260

2 70

280

290

300

310
320
330

3 4
350
360
370
380
390

E/COLOUR ###
; ) K. MUNN 1986
THIS ASSEMBLER PROGRAM IS FULLY
RELOCATABLE IN ITS PRESENT FORM
LINE 150 REQUIRES ALTERATION IF
PROGRAM RELOCATION IS DESIRED

*=$C000

SEI

LDA #$0D
STA $0314
LDA #$C0

STA $031 5

CL I

RTS

PAUSE JSR

LDA *C5

CMP i*04

$FF9F

BEQ PAUSE
LDA $C5
CMP #$05
BEQ BORDER
BACK1 LDA iCS
CMP #$06

BEQ SCREEN
BACK 2 LDA $C5
CMP #$0.3
BEQ CURSOR
BACK 3 J MP SEA31
RTS

400 BORDER INC $D020

410 J3R WSELSE

420 J MP BACK1

430 SCREEN INC $D021

440 JSR WSELSE

450 J MP BACK2

460 CURSOR INC $0286

470 LDA $0286

480 LDX #$00

490 FILL STA $D800.X

500 STA $D900,X

510 STA $DA00.X

520 STA $DB00,X
530 INX

540 BNE FILL

550 JSR WSELSE

560 JMP BACK3

570 WSELSE LDA #0
580 STA $FB
590 LDX #$00
600 LOOP INC $FB

INITIALISE START OF PROGRAM TO LOCATION 49152

DISABLE IRQ I NTERUPTS

LOAD LO-BYTE OF START LOCATION

INTO LO-BYTE OF IRQ VECTOR

DO THE SAME TO THE HI -BYTE AND

POINT IRQ VECTOR TO OUR PROGRAM

RE-ENABLE INTERUPTS

RETURN TO SUBROUTINE

BRANCH TO KEYSCAN ROM ROUTINE

LOAD MATRIX VALUE OF
AND COMPARE WITH 'Fl

LAST KEYSCAN
MATRIX

IF SO BRANCH TO PAUSE LOOP

IF NOT TAKE NEXT MATRIX VALUE

IS IT 'F3'

IF SO BRANCH TO BORDER ROUTINE

IF NOT TAKE NEXT MATRIX VALUE

1 b

IT ' F5'

IF SO BRANCH TO SCREEN ROUTINE
IF NOT TAKE NEXT MATRIX VALUE
IS IT ' F7'

IF SO BRANCH TO CURSOR ROUTINE
J UMP TO IRQ SERV 1 C I NG ROUT I NE
IN ROM AND RETURN TO BASIC

LOOP
COMPARISON

INC BORDER MEMORY BY 1

JUMP TO A TIME WASTING

JUMP TO SCREEN ROUTINE

INC SCREEN MEMORY BY 1

WASTE MORE TIME

JUMP TO CURSOR ROUTINE COMPARISON

INCREASE MEMORY IN LOCATION 646
STORE VALUE IN LOCATION 646
START LOOP COUNTER AT ZERO
STORE VALUE OF LOCATION
646 INTO COLOUR MEMORY
FROM LOCATION 55296

TO LOCATION 56295

INC LOOP BY ONE AND IF LESS THAN

255 BRANCH BACK TO FILL ROUTINE

ZZZ2ZZZ

BRANCH TO INTERUPT SERVICE

START OF THE TIME WASTING LOOP
MACHINE CODE IS SO FAST THAT IF
THIS ROUTINE WERE NOT PRESENT
THE COLOURS IN THE BORDER, SCREEN

142 Commodore Computing June 1987

fPwi<mL

610 BNE LOOP ! AND SCREEN CHARACTER ROUTINES

620 INX ! WOULD FLASH TOO FAST TO CONTROL

630 CPX #$00 ! THIS LOOP ENABLES EASY SELECTION

640 BNE LOOP ! REMOVE THE LOOP INSTRUCTIONS

650 RTS ! TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN SPEED

100 REM ##* PAUSE/CO L U R ###

110 REM COPYRIGHT (C) K. MUNN 1986
120 REM WHEN THE PROGRAM LOADS IT WILL
130 REM AUTO- INITIALISE AND NEW ITSELF
140 REM THE UTILITY IS NOW INVISIBLE
150 REM TO YOUR OWN BASIC PROGRAMS
160 REM Fl WILL PAUSE BASIC
170 REM F3 ADVANCES BORDER COLOUR
180 REM F5 ADVANCES SCREEN COLOUR
190 REM F7 ADVANCES CHARACTER COLOUR

200 FOR X = 49152 TO 49258: READ A: POKE X, A: NEXT: SYS 491 52: NEW

210 DATA 120, 169, 013, 141 , 020, 003. 169, 192, 141 , 021 , 003, 088

220 DATA 096,032,159,255,165,197,201,004,240,247.165.19,'

230 DATA 201,005,240,016.165,197,201,006,240,019,165,197

240 DATA 201 , 003, 240, 022, 076. 049, 234, 096, 238, 032, 208, 032

250 DATA 091, 192, 076, 028, 192, 238, 033, 208. 032, 091 , 192, 76

260 DATA 034, 192, 238, 134, 002, 173, 134, 002. 162, 000, 157. 000

270 DATA 216, 157, 000, 217, 157, 000, 218, 157, 000, 219, 232, 208

280 DATA 241,032,091,192,076,040,192,169,000,133,251,162

290 DATA 000,230,251,208,252,232,224,000,208,247,096

* Programme Submission Procedure *

DO NOT submit any programme or routine that you do not either own or have proper authority to do so.

ALWAYS include your name, address and the date on all material and any enclosures.
Do not forget to to make it clear exactly which computer/s your programme or article is applicable to.

Include ROM or DOS versions wherever they are pertinent.

Number all pages.

If you have to submit work which is hand-written then you must make sure it is printed clearly.

Never use staples. Use paperclips if necessary.

If you are saving your programme to tape then save it AT LEAST twice on each side.

When you save a programme on disk save it twice and call the second file "BACKUP".

Remember to label all tapes and disks with your name and the title of the programme. Label tape or disk
with your name and the name or title of the programme.

Always ensure that disks are well packaged. They should ideally be sent in a commercial disk mailer or at
least packed between two pieces of hardboard or rigid plastic.

Please allow at least 8 weeks for acknowledgement as all programmes have to be thoroughly tested and
made into a suitable format.

Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope or package if you would like your programme to be returned.

* Programming tips *

If you can, use CHR$(x) type commands instead of those hard to read graphic symbols.

If necessary renumber your programme on completion as many readers use auto number utilities to ease

typing in.

Try to keep instructions within the programme itself as a sensible level. You can expand on them within
the accompanying text if necessary.

TEST your programmes before submitting them or even better get a friend to test them for you.

If a programme contains machine code data please use decimal and not hex as there are fewer digits to
be confused. Try and keep the same number of data statements in each line. Please add some form of
error checking if your programme contains any more than five lines of data. There is a suitable routine at
the end of this article.

Commodore Computing June 1987 143

*Featuie,

lnt..er..mpted Again

In the April issue of this August journal
(or was itthe August issueof this April
journal) there was an article of mine
which explained briefly how interrupts
work on the 64 by using something
called the Hardware Interrupt Vector. In
the same issue came a query from one
M. A. Smith of Bures in Suffolk regard-
ing the problems he was having getting
sprites to move commands. An obvious
call for an interruption, and with all due
respect to Rae West I don't think his
reply of "read page 272 of my book" was
the most detailed of answers to the
reader's query. So, once more unto the
breach, and before you know it we'll
have sprites racing around all over the
place.

Brief explanation

If anyone missed the last article on
interrupts (shame, and that's you crossed
off the editor's Christmas Card List), a
very brief word of explanation. Every
fiftieth of a second or so the 64 whizzes
off to location $EA31 in memory and
sorts a few things out. By altering the
content of memory locations 788 and
789 we can make it go somewhere else
first, and thus have some other opera-
tion performed before $EA31 is reached.
Provided that we get there in the end,
and that the program it reaches first is
working correctly, then all well and
good and the 64 gives the impression of
performing two tasks at the same time.

And onto sprites

The reader's query concerned a specific
problem, that of moving sprites around
the screen. So, for the sake of getting a
sprite up and running, consider the fol-
lowing BASIC program:

"Insert listing headed BASIC SPRITE
MOVEMENT here. Ta."

The routine starting at line 62000
reads in the sprite data to the approp-
riate places, while the data itself is con-
tained in lines 6300-63031. Two sprites
are used, resembling an open and a
closed eye, and by alternating the two
one gets a fair resemblance to an eye
winking. Before starting on this pro-
gram I took the sprite design from Dave
Parkinson (AMIGA supremo), and dur-

ing develoment of it I took a glass or two
of wine from the same bloke, so thanks
are due to him for that.

Lines 19 to 166 control the sprite on
the screen, and you'll see that the keys A
and D are used to move the sprite left
and right, while I and M move it up and
down. Any other keys would have done
equally as well. Lines 200 and 204 simply
swop sprites, while line 300 makes a
noise every time the sprite collides with
the wall of the window in which it is
encased. Lines 4 to 10 draw that up, and
for the sake of clarity symbols like BLK
have been used to represent pressing
CONTROL and 1, CBM N for pressing
the logo key and the N key to achieve a
graphic character, and so on. SP repre-
sents SPACE bar, OFF represents
reverse OFF, and as long as you DON'T
type in the square brackets and com-
mas we'll be all right.

Okay, nothing staggering yet, so lets
put in some amendments to this pro-
gram that will enable it to use another,
later one.

"Either insert whole of AMENDMENTS
TO BASIC PROGRAM here, or just use
lines 19-32, since that's all that has
changed. Ta."

As you can see, lines 19 to 32 are new,
while lines 100 to 300 need to be removed
altogether. The rest is the same. Don't,
whatever you do, run this program yet
though. The important lines to consider
at the moment are lines 19 and 20. The
four POKEs in line 19 determine, respec-
tively, where the sprite starts in the X
and Y co-ordinates, in which direction it
will be travelling, and which particular
sprite image is going to be the first one
on display (an open eye, to begin with).
Line 20 then alters the HIV to point to
location $C350, but since we haven't got
any code there yet there's precious little
point in implementing it just at the
moment. Save the program, reset the
64, and type in the next one:

"Insert listing headed BASIC LOADER
here. Ta."

Onto machine code

The beauty about using a BASIC loader
is that you can use the program without

having to know anything about machine
code. So, type it in and run it if you like,
and provided that you've entered the
data correctly (the program will tell you)
then you can re-load our amended
BASIC program and run it. Do, how-
ever, save the BASIC loaderfirst in case
of disaster. This time, when the HIV is
reset to go to $C350, there'll be some-
thing there for it to play with. As before,
pressing A, D, I and M will cause the
sprite to move left, right, up and down
respectively. From the little display in
the left hand corner of the screen you
can see that BASIC is still running quite
happily, and if you don't believe it then
just break into the program (run/stop as
per normal) and list it. The sprite will be
quite content to trundle about the
screen, and you can still press the four
keys to move it around.

However, the problem with BASIC
loaders is that you can't do anything
particularly useful with them if your
knowledge of machine code is zero, so
we'll spend a bit of time looking at var-
ious parts of it to see what we can alter.
First of all, you might not I ike the choice
of letters used to move the sprite about,
and I must admit there is something
slightly disconcerting about sending a
sprite zooming up the screen every time
you type the word LIST, for example.
So, following closely.

We're using location 197 to give us a
value every time a key is pressed, and in
the case of the letter A that value is 10.
0A in hexadecimal, but 10 will do for
now. If you want to use another key (say
Q, value returned equals 62) replace the
value 10 in line 200 with a 62, and the
value 1 in line 290 with a 62. To change
the D key, to say the E key (value
returned equals 1 4) you'll need to replace
the 1 8 in line 200 with a 14, and the 18 in
line 250 with a 14. Similarly, to alter the I
and M keys, you'll need to alter the value
33 in line 21 and line 350 for the letter I,
and the value 36 in line 210 and line 320
for the letter M.

With me so far? Next, you might want
to alter the sprite data pointer, to show
different sprites on the screen. So, in the
BASIC program you'll need to mess

C0A/T//VUEP

7

144 Commodore Computing June 1987

CONTINUED

way first, add the following two lines to
our BASIC driver program:

about with the value 248 in line 19, and
the first value of 248 in line 360. Alter
those, and you'll get different sprites
displayed.

That was the easy part. Now you
might want to alter the area traversed by
the sprite, which depends on f ou r values
at the moment. These are the maximum
and minimum X co-ordinates, and ditto
for the Y co-ordinates. In order to make
life easier, this program does not allow
for sprites moving beyond an X co-
ordinate of 255 (boo, hiss), so if you
want tomuck about with that you're on
your own. However, the X minimum and
maximum values are stored as 105 in
line 230 and 240 in line 260. The corres-
ponding Y values are stored as 64 inn
line 290 and 210 in line 330. Just put
whatever values you feel like, if you
want to have the sprite careering madly
around somewhere else.

More sprites

Finally, you might want more than one
sprite, responding to different keys per-
haps. Jam as well, eh? Okay. This, as
you umight imagine, requires major
surgery to the machine code side of
things. To get the easy stuff out of the

"Insert listing headed
AMENDMENTS here."

'FURTHER

You will see that line 18 is very similar
to the existing line 19, and just sets
some data up for another sprite. The
same winking eye designs have been
used, but anything would do really. Hav-
ing typed in the changes, re-save the
program.

To alter the original BASIC loader,
change the 049,234 at the end of line 220
to read 080,198. As above, once the
changes have been typed in, re-save the
program. Now, to finish it all off, we
need this second loader:

"Insert listing headed SECOND LOADER
here. Ta."

As before, type it in and save it before
attempting to use it. The sequence of
events is now as follows. Load in the
amended first BASIC loader and run it.
Load in this econd BASIC loader and
run that. Finally, load in the amended
BASIC driver program and run that.
Provided that everything has been typed
in correctly, two sprites will be running
about the screen, one controlled by the
A, D, I and M keys as before, the other by
Q, E for left and right, and U, N for up
and down. The second loader isn't in

fact all that different from the first one,
but because the code is in a different
place in memory various parts of it have
had to be altered to accommodate that
fact. Everything that was in the first
loader and was referencing, for exam-
ple, $C3xx, is in this second loader refe-
rencing $C6xx. Occurences of $C4xx
have similarly been altered to $C7xx,
and so on. Finally, of course, a couple of
changes had to be made in order to
move sprite 2 around instead of sprite 1 .
You want th ree sprites? Do it you rself !
Seriously, the principle is exactly the
same, and there's no real reason why
you couldn't have any number of the
little beasts running about the screen
and generally getting in the way of
things.

Conclusion

A fair amount of typing in answer to a
query, but at least it solves the problem
and provides another insight into the
workings of the 64. Interrupts are fun to
play with, and very useful if you can
actually master them. Perhaps next
month we might take a look at some-
thing else that can be done with our old
friend the Hardware Interrupt Vector.

P.G.

COMPETITION
RESULTS

S.F. Competition

Kolin Robertson, Lines; Kristian Benning, Wilts; M.
Rizzo, Malta.

Bazooka Bill

1st: Andrew Ayers, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.

Runners-up: Ian Todd, Sussex; D. Hawes, Orping-
ton; Martin Appel, Newport; S. A. Brentnall, Map-
perley; S. Andrews, Purley; G. Galloway, Spain;
Andrew Elliott, Beds; Gavin Way, Melksham; J.
Malinowski, Lincolnshire; Wayne Dibben, Upmins-
ter; J. Witney, Bilsby; J. Bartley, Glastonbury; W.
Rizzo, Malta; J. Arnold, Merseyside; Jane Fletcher,
Burley; Gareth Dear, Eaton Bray; Kieth Haggerty,
Blyth; Stuart Harper, Bath; Steven Duxbury, Wake-
field; CNO Plunkett, Ruislip; Allan Bland, Goole;
Sean Minster, Cheshire; P. Elphick, Wallington;
Peter Hynds, Wickford; Paul Dolan, N. Yorkshire;
S. Garratt, Crewe; Alex Arrol, Hampton; M. Dar-
lington, Shropshire; G. Bushell, Reading; J. Con-
sadine, N. Humberside; Steve Skinner, Nottingham;
L. Lodeiro, London; Alan Bateman, Avon; Phillip
Embleton, Aberdeenshire; Mathew Tipple, Tyne &
Wear; Russell Bloor, Stoke-on-Trent; John Bul-
lions, London; Geoff Robertson, Merseyside; Peter
Roberts, Woking; Steven Lea, Cradley Heath.

Judge Dredd/Melbourne House
Competition

Winner: David Laidler, Gosport, Hants.

Runners-up: M. Darlington, Telford; C. Garbutt,
Essex; W. Dibben, Upminster; S. Benning, Wilts; S.
Minter, Cheshire; A. Marney, London; Steven Dux-
bury, Wakefield; Darren Hawes, Orpington; A.
Bland, N. Humberside; J. Bartley, Glastonbury; L.
Lodeiro, London; J. Malinowski, Lines; P. Dolan,
Selby; C. Wynne, Chichester; Gavin Way, Wilts;
Jane Fletcher, Burley; M. Prince, Kent; P. Cheese-
brough, Keswick; M. Rizzon, Malta; J. Arnold, St.
Helens; J. Witney, Lines; M. Tipple, Tyne & Wear:
John Consadine, N. Humberside; F. Morrissey,
Nuneaton.

T-Shirt Jamboree

Winner: CNIK, Southampton.

Runners-up: Kolin Robertson, Lines; A. Marney,
London; Martyn Appell, Isle of Wight.
Extra generous third prizes to: Richard Perkins,
Chesterfield; M. Caine, Edinburgh; Aaron Gale,
Southampton; James Witney, Lines; Chris McLean,
Cheshire; Geoff Robertson, Merseyside; Barry Kil-
born, Stirlingshire.

Commodore Computing June 1987 145

/Wfflfise/$ 'P/recfr/y

Access Associates

Adamsoft

Alligata

Anco Marketing

Argonaut Software

Ariadne Software

A. Shraddan

Beau Jolly

Bitstream

Burocare

Calco

Cascade Games

85

31

44

67,69

101

103

129

59

112

20

29

47

Cavendish Commodore Centre 77

Cimex Electronica 37

Computer Repairs 129

Comspec 35

Croydon Computer Centre 129

Culton Sales & Services 121

Database Publications 25, 27
Datel Electronics 51,53,105

Dateline 7

Delta Pi 112

Digital Integration 57

Digital Shades 112

Dimension 9

Direct Disk Supplies 20

Direct Mail Discount 135

Dosoft 116

Dr. Soft 69

E&J Software 129

Evesham Micros 70, 71

Faster Than Light 43

Felsina 95

Finally Software 107

First Analytical 31

G&B Electronics 30

G. C. Bunce 129

George Thompson Services 95

Gledhills 106

Granthams 103

Gremlin 2

Haba/HB Marketing 87

Hewson 41

Hi-Voltage 79

Hobbies Exchange 129

H&P Computers 130

HSV Computer Services 29

ICPUG 117

Insight Systems 127

Inter Trading Company

Konix

Lan Computer Systems

Load-It

Logic Sales

MCE

MDR Interfaces

Meedmore

Metacomco

Microhex Computers

Microillusions

Micromedia

Micronet 800

Microsnips

Microsystems

Microtext

Micro Workshop

Mirrorsoft

MPC Software

Nevis Records

New Tek

Nobles

Novacare

Once Bytten

Overbase Ltd

Postronix

Precision Software

Psygnosis Ltd

Ram Soft

Robtek

121

49
115
135

47
129
103
128
104
127
100
122

35
127

80
135
129

84
106
117

92
135
119
135
119

33
17,19,89,91

99
129
116

Roundhill Computer Systems 87

Screens Micro Computers 37

Selec 122
Shifnal Satellite Communications 121
Sixty-Four Software Centre 111, 133

Software Express 101

Specialist Computer Centre 23

Strategic Pius Software 69

Supra Corporation 97

System Software 39

Triangle Television 95

Tricomputer 108

Trilogic 13

Trojan Products 122

Turtlesoft 38

Tynesoft IBC

U.S. Gold 65

Wigmore House 112

Wizard Software 15

Worldwide Software 69

IN A SERIES FROM
MICROVALUE

ZM&

^ii

FOR LESSI
THAN
£1.00
EACH

t-czmam)

MICRO

MICRO

ALSO AVAILABLE FOR SPECTRUM, AMSTRAD,

ELECTRON, ATARI, VIC 20, C16/PLUS 4 -

TITLES WILL VARY BETWEEN FORMATS

MICROVALUE - ADDISON INDUSTRIAL ESTATE,
BLAYDON, TYNE & WEAR NE21 4TE TEL: (091) 414 4611

//

UJL Top Seller is British

rr

CBA164

antf CBM 12*

40 + 80

Column
Ve rs/o ns

The Essential Package

Over there they call it Swift-Calc; over here |
we just call it Swift, but whatever you call
it, it's the most affordable and easy-to-use
professional quality Spreadsheet around!

The Americans have voted with their
wallets and made Swift one of the top ten
Home Management programs, according
to the highly respected Billboard chart. But
it's British, written by Dave Middleton of
Metamorphosis Developments, and
published in the UK by Audiogenic
Software.

Swift Spreadsheet is the essential financial
modelling package. Use it in business, at
home, or in your club or society to help you
in budgetting, costing, quotations,
household financial planning, or any task
where the manipulation of figures is
involved.

Swift will prove indispensable in
forecasting and decision-making due to its
'What If capabilities - it can show you
instantly how results are affected when you
change one or more of the contributory
factors.

Even if you haven't used a Spreadsheet
before, you will soon be able to harness
the power of Swift to your own special
requirements.

J®^"

STOCK

-SOLUTION?

Best Value Package

EVer at £24.95 (BBC version £29.95)
ONLY SWIFT CAN GIVE YOU ALL THESE FEATURES...

WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAY
"Companies are spending thousands of pounds on
micros running Lotus 1-2-3. ..home users have access to
similar powerful programs like Audiogenic's Swift
Spreadsheet" The Guardian

"This product is so outstanding in so many ways"
Commodore Horizons

"Audiogenic's Swift Spreadsheet is far and away the
best of the low-cost spreadsheets for home micros"
Sunderland Echo

VERSIONS AVAILABLE

Commodore 128 and 64 - both versions on one disk
Commodore 128 and 64 - both versions on one cassette
Atari 800XL and 130XE - both versions on one disk
Atari 800XL and 130XE - both versions on one cassette
BBC-B (40 Column screen display) - EPROM

Swift is the Trade Mark of
Metamorphosis Developments Ltd.
Now available from...
WH Smith, Boots, Laskys and all
good software dealers

Easy to use - With pop-up menu control.

Easy to learn - Comes with an instruction manual that is comprehensive and

comprehensible.

Enormous Spreadsheet area - Cell matrices are Al to BL254 (Commodore 128 and

Atari 130XE); Al to Z254 (Commodore 64 and Atari 800XL); or Al to Z126 (BBC-B).

Professional 80 column screen display- On Commodore 128 version only

(RGB monitor required).

Highly flexible cell formatting - Column widths individually variable, user

definable decimal precision, and text formatting to left, right or centre.

Lots of numerical display options - Minus signs, debit brackets or cr/dr notation

for negative values, currency symbols, percent sign, etc.

Simultaneous display of two sheet areas - Horizontal or vertical split-screen facility.

Graphical display option - Converts cell values into bar graphs.

Can be used by unskilled operators - Automatic execution of pre-programmed

operational sequences.

BBC version supports both Tape and Disk filing systems - Comes as an EPROM chip.

Commodore version gives easy interface to parallel printers - Built-in Centronics

Interface.

Order now by phone... (0734) 303663

...or via Prestel to our Telex: 847826 AUDGEN G